A twist in the times before
by Alex Penedo
Summary: A semi-AU set in Natsume's past. 'Here there be exorcists.' You'll have to read on for a better summary; you're not getting any more than that. No pairings. Rated for some light swearing. Will probably be put through serious editing some time in the near future.
1. A Distant Beginning

**Warnings: **Minimal violence, if any. I do try not to actually swear, but I will directly imply an insult or have a character curse it when I feel it's appropriate, since I try to make my characters realistic and realistic characters swear (and I would put a heart here, but FFN won't let me put the 'less than' symbol that makes up the first half of the heart D'; ) No pairings. I personally don't like them, partially because the manga doesn't have them. You are all free to like them; I am free to say that I don't.

**A/N:** Okay, this is my very first (public) fanfiction, so the first thing I have to do is authenticate my (undiagnosed and likely incurable) tendency to ramble :P

And you can all go ahead and flame me for it; I won't mind, because it means you've found nothing better to flame in my writing (and you have no sense of humor. If you did, you would humor me). I am perfectly happy with any and all criticism or corrections (provided that it's useful and actually applies. I dislike random flamers.)

You can all ignore the many parentheses if you want to (including the ones in the actual story). It might make more sense that way. ^_^ And I'm sorry my writing style includes so many random digressions and interruptions, but that (-is just how my head works-) means you can all just read it twice! (First without the extras so you'll actually understand what's going on and the story flows properly, and once more with the extras just for fun ;L)

I'm not one of those people who write for reviews, unfortunately for you readers, but I do like to know how popular my works are (it helps me prioritize, as I write more), so feel free to review if you want to (it also tells me how sane my ideas are, because I've had far, far too many plot bunnies run through my head for me to still accurately judge them :P ).

Ahem.

Anyways, this is about a younger Natsume, set back when he's still being thrown around between families. It's an AU, because this really doesn't fit into the normal manga/anime storyline. Something interesting happens; that's all you're getting this chapter. I will (probably) put a proper summary on the next chapter, when it won't spoil the first chapter (I HATE spoilers). Though, anyone detail-picky enough will probably know what I'm trying to acomplish anyways.

I haven't written much for the NY-C fandom (heck, I haven't written much of anything, and published even less), so I apologize in advance if my ideas seem uncreative (I HAVE just read through almost every clean piece of NY-C fanfic on this site, plus a few that weren't...) or if the characters seem like they're OOC. I'm pretty sure my POV and tenses are all over the place a lot of the time, so I apologize for that.

All the side-character names (there aren't many) are (nearly) completely random, as I only know a little Japanese through manga and anime ;L I tried to pick generic names, though (for example, no one is named Naruto, Ichigo, Luffy, Inuyasha, or anything like that).

And since I'm lazy, I'm just going to put the disclaimer on this chapter alone: _I don't own Natsume Yuujin-Cho _(Or Natsume's Book of Friends, or whatever else you choose to call this series :P)

Big thank-you to harunekonya for answering some of my Japanese-culture questions! (I have frequently proven that you don't have to be Japanese to love manga/anime :P ) First chapter's dedicated to you~

* * *

It was right after class, right when the last bell rang. Natsume, starting his second week at his new school, sat bolt upright in his chair, his hair standing on end. Some of the other students gave him uncertain looks, and a few of the boys snickered quietly.

_"Look, the liar's scared of the bell."_

_"What an idiot."_

Natsume sank back into his chair self-consciously. He made no attempt to correct what he heard; they wouldn't believe him anyway. He was sure that _they_ hadn't felt that... that... shock in the air just now, and Natsume had long since given up trying to talk about the things he saw and felt to his classmates (just like all the others before them, they didn't believe him. When was he going to _learn,_ to stop hoping that _someone_ would be different...). He packed his school-rented bag absentmindedly, focusing on the current that was tingling on the edge of his senses. It felt uncomfortable, and wrong somehow. By the time he got out of the school building, the current had disappeared, as though dissipated by the wind. He briefly wondered what it was, but decided that it didn't matter. Nothing had happened, after all.

* * *

Natsume quickly walked in the opposite direction he usually went, hoping that none of the other students would think to try and find out where he was going. He'd found a small shrine near the school by accident a few days ago (been chased there by a yokai, in fact), and he wanted to look around to see if he could find it again. He was supposed to head home right away, but Uncle and Aunt Rakuto (not that they were actually his aunt and uncle. They were probably the son-of-his-father's-cousin's-brother-in-law's-aunt-thrice-removed or something. It used to be a little game of his, trying to figure out how exactly he was related to the people he was living with, but he'd given that up when it was just too tiring for him, both mentally and emotionally) didn't come home until well after dark, and he'd rather find a place to hide when he needed it than spend his time waiting on the doorstep for them to arrive.

Natsume had wandered for about ten minutes or so, piecing together what few landmarks he could remember (the tree by the path whose roots had almost tripped him, the yard with the dog that had barked as he ran past, the bush he'd hid under until the yokai spotted him, and the house with the woman who'd asked him what was wrong when he'd stopped at her gate to catch his breath and see if he'd lost the yokai) when it started drizzling lightly. Distant rumbles of thunder promised more rain.

"Shoot," he muttered to no one in particular. Aunt Rakuto _hated _it when he dripped or got mud on the porch, and he really didn't want to trouble the Rakutos any further than he already was. He picked up his pace, hoping he could find the shrine before it really started raining; he was sure the shrine was closer than heading back to school. He rushed along, his bag held over his head, up and down another block before he finally found what he was looking for. He sat down on the wooden steps, thinking that the overhanging roof would shield him from most of the rain, but gave up and went inside when a gust of wind threw the pellets of water right into his face. He quietly closed the sliding door on the rain and the distant rumbles of thunder, hoping the storm would blow over before he had to go back to the house (which was fairly likely; the Rakutos' wouldn't be there for _hours_).

He leaned against the wall to the left of the door and sank into a sitting position. He felt a little uncertain; normally one wasn't supposed to actually go into the shrines, but stay outside and pray to the god or spirit living within. Natsume had never met a god before (not that he'd been aware of, anyway) and he very much hoped that there wasn't one here. Or at least, not one inclined to chase a human intruder out of its home.

A flare of lighting burst close by, and Natsume flinched away. After some initial hesitation, he picked up his bag and crawled away from the doors, a little further into the room. No angry spirit had come demanding that he leave yet; he figured that moving closer to the shrine itself couldn't hurt (probably). He sat down again, quietly pulled out a workbook (borrowed from the school, not his own) and started working on his math homework. The light was pretty bad, with the storm and lack of open windows, but Natsume didn't really care, as long as he could still see the words on the paper.

He didn't know exactly how long he sat there, listening to the rain and trying to focus on the numbers, but it couldn't have been for more than a few minutes when he heard steps just outside the doors of shrine. Natsume froze, pencil suspended just above the paper. He saw a dark, humanoid silhouette through the door, just standing there. Natsume silently put away his book and slipped his bag on, just in case it was a yokai and he had to run away (again). He hoped it wasn't a yokai, but he felt something, some presence, that was decidedly _wrong;_ there was something in the air that he hadn't noticed when he was focused on his homework. (He didn't know what it was, just some instinct telling him that there really was something nearby. Probably a yokai). He eased himself up, automatically searching for an alternative escape route (the shadowy figure was blocking the doorway; Natsume wasn't sure he could make it out that way if he tried).

There was a small window, set fairly high up but big enough for him to leave through. It was on the wall adjacent to the door; if Natsume made too much noise, whatever was outside would find him. He eased the window open slowly, hoping that whatever noise he made would be covered by the storm. It was still raining pretty hard, but getting wet was preferable to getting eaten (by a very, very large margin). He carefully slid the window open all the way and leaned his head out, one knee on the frame of the window. He was about to bring his other knee up and jump down when something stuck its head out from underneath the floor of shrine, directly beneath his window. Before Natsume could register anything more than a white, oval shaped mask set on a shadowy figure, the white kimono-clad yokai had whipped upwards, toward him, with startling speed and an accompanying rush of wind. Natsume simultaneously shrieked and fell back. He landed on the floor with a _thump _and propped himself up just in time to see a tall figure in a dark kimono burst into the shrine.

* * *

**A/N:** No, I'm not going to leave it like that; next chapter will be up soon (like maybe a week or so, no promises), and you will all find out who was outside the shrine (though quite frankly, it's not too hard to guess).

The little bit in the begining about Natsume feeling something weird in school does become relavent eventually (as in, many chapters later). So don't forget it.


	2. The first encounter: A Room in the Rain

**A/N: **So, I did mention that I hate spoilers, but I'm gonna spill anyways (just so I don't have to include an extra bit in the story explaining some things about Seiji). The one who walks in on Natsume is Matoba. I'm just gonna call him Seiji in the story, though, and reserve 'Matoba' for the one who's the Head in the story (meaning Seiji's not the leader of his clan yet).

And here's the (not-so) official summary~I've had this idea playing around in my head since Natsume's rejection of Matoba's repeated invite to join the Matoba clan. (Just so you all know, I follow the manga version more than the anime, so Natsume-in-my-head has SILVER hair and not brown, plus Matoba's character is a little different; in the incident with the monkey-masked yokai, he never actually pulls a knife on Nyanko/Madara and asks Natsume about his grandmother [Reiko] instead.) I keep feeling like Natsume's main reason for rejecting Matoba's offer is because he's happy where he is and he's found friends both among the yokai and the humans (not that there aren't other reasons for Natsume to refuse Matoba; Matoba can be a real b*$t*rd when he wants to be). So, I wondered how Natsume would respond to that invite if he hadn't met the Fujiwaras yet (plus Nyanko and Co., plus Nishimura/Kitamoto/Tanuma/Taki/anyone-else-I-missed), back when he was still all alone and being passed between families. This is my take on that. *insert a heart that FFN won't let me post...*

I tried to make Matoba a little nicer and a tiny bit more emotional. I probably failed in the 'nicer' area (trying to imagine Matoba a little nicer is like trying to imagine Takashi a little meaner; it either goes too far or nothing really happens. I probably didn't change much in Matoba's character...especially since a lot of people tend to make Matoba the bad guy. But I tried).

Oh right, I did mention that there are no pairings. Seiji is about 17 - lower 20-ish (yes, that's vague, but Matoba in the anime looks like he could be anywhere from 20 to mid-30, so it should be okay :3), and Natsume's...eight. (Or nine-ish. Anyways, he's a little kid.) Lots of people pair them up, but I wanted Seiji to be a bit between older brother-ish and dad-ish (plus, Matoba-in-the-manga has never come across as a pedophile. Just...no T_T).

Anyways, this chapter's to Lord Kharl, my first reviewer~ Thank you for trying something that has obviously not been approved by someone else first!

* * *

Seiji stared expressionlessly as the rain poured down. This was supposed to be just a short walk around the new area. Then it had started raining, and then Seiji found out that the yokai he had exterminated yesterday had managed to rip a hole in his umbrella. Nanase was going to be very upset with him; he was extremely late.

The wind had dropped a few minutes ago, so he was relatively dry under the shrine's overhang. At the same time, the sheets of rain pounding down a few feet from him further accented his confinement to the shrine, and it didn't look like the rain would let up anytime soon. He shot a disgusted glance at the shiki searching the grounds; not for the first time, he lamented their inability to talk (and thus their inability to carry messages or tell the people at his temporary residence that he needed an umbrella).

Something cried out and hit the floor inside the shrine. He whipped around quickly (reflexes, something you had to hone in his line of work), and darted inside. He found himself looking down at a little boy facing an open window. The boy was thin, with unusually silver colored hair, blue eyes, and a used-looking bag hanging from his shoulders. The boy shot rapid glances between Seiji and the open window with wide, scared eyes.

"Are you...human?" the boy mumbled warily.

"What?" Seiji tilted his head to one side, although he had heard the child's words perfectly (sharp hearing was also something you had to develop in his business). He slowly slid the door closed behind him. _Questioning my humainty...And just what does this child know of things _not_ human?_

"No...it's nothing," the boy mumbled quietly. Seiji narrowed his eyes. He walked up the open window. He was about to shut it when he noticed the shiki he had sent to search the grounds; it was peering into the shrine. Hiding his arm from the child with his torso, he hand-signaled the shiki to go around and guard the door of the shrine. Then he shut the window carefully and faced the strange boy who had taken off his bag and was sitting next to it on the floor, against the wall opposite the window.

"I heard you fall; are you alright? What happened?" _Why was the window open? You _must _have seen me outside; I can see the shadow of my shiki through the door. So you were...trying to spy on me? Trying to run away? A normal person wouldn't try that..._

""Umm...I just wanted to see how hard it was raining, so I opened the window. Then the wind blew a lot of rain in my face and I fell back..." the boy trailed off. Seiji looked at the child thoughtfully and sat down. This child was a terrible liar; Seiji had been standing outside and knew for a fact that there had been no strong winds (he would've gotten soaked if there had been). Seiji mentally filed away this little bit of information for later.

"What are you doing in here?" Seiji asked, changing the subject. What he really wanted to ask was _Who are you?_ (though maybe_ What are you? _would be more appropriate), but he knew better than to ask that question of anyone he wasn't firmly sure was human. Right now, he really couldn't be sure of such a thing; he could feel some strange power from this suspicious boy.

"It's raining. I'm waiting for it to stop." _A plausible excuse, hard to contradict but also hard to prove. It fits with the rest of the situation. _Seiji focused on the bag next to the boy. Seiji was new to the area and couldn't recognize the school the backpack came from, but he could tell that it was a temporary one, borrowed from a school. _It hasn't been replaced with a permanent one, even though it's the middle of the school year..._

"Do you attend school near here?" _An akayashi going to a human school...well, it's not impossible. Then again, he could just be a newly transferred student...no, then he'd still have a backpack from his previous school. So, he can't or won't get a permanent bag... Or maybe his own bag broke recently? So he's waiting to get a replacement?_

"...Yes." _Have Nanase look up the elementary schools in the area..._

"Were you on your way home from school? You live nearby?" _Perhaps you live in this shrine? A god? Assuming you _are_ an akayashi, you'd have to be quite powerful to be near a shrine._

"...Not really. I live somewhere else." _He's purposely being unspecific...that might be normal, I _am_ a total stranger. But if he weren't human, he wouldn't tell me anyway, would he? _

"If you weren't on your way home, then what were you doing before it started raining?"

"Exploring."_ That's a horrible excuse; you're a terrible liar. Or maybe you really are just new to the area... since I guess I could also say I'm stuck out here because I was 'exploring'._

"By yourself? Isn't that a bit dangerous?"

"..." That was the first question that had been answered by silence.

_No, he's probably lying._

* * *

**A/N: **And so, the misguided suspicion deepens... :P For some reason, leading Matoba on like this is unexpectedly fun.

No, Natsume's not actually a yokai in this story, though a few authors seem to do that. I just really wanted to do a confused-and-slightly-less-confident Matoba, because he's a bit younger here (or at least, he's supposed to be). Plus, I figured out a lot of little things about a younger Takashi (sad things, some of them) that could easily serve to confuse a young exorcist who's outside of his home turf. And here I would list some of them, but that would ruin the point of the next chapter...so wait a little :3 It'll be up eventually~ (probably not as quick as this one, though, because school's started again)

Next one's from Natsume's POV again (probably)! Though I might stick in Seiji's thoughts anyway...


	3. A Shift in the Humanity in Question

**A/N: **So, next chapter~

I'm sorry this took a lot longer than chapter two did. For some reason, this was ridiculously hard to write.

I just went back and looked at my other chapters. They're really short. Plus, the A/N is always about as long as the chapter itself... so I'm going to stop making a new chapter for every POV shift (especially since there are quite a few now) and make this one a bit longer (at least, it looks longer. There's more conversation).

And school just started after two blissful months of vacation. This has put me in a decidedly un-ramble-y mood. It also means I'm going to have far less time to write (which means longer times between updates. Sorry).

So I am going to keep my babbling to a minimum and get on with the story (for this chapter at least. No promises about the next one :P maybe things will look up and I'll have more to say).

Here I just want to say that trying to make conversation between two no-so-talkative people and still keep everything IC is really troublesome. Following their respective trains of thought is also really brain-wave-consuming.

This chapter's for Miruial, my second reviewer~ (and since my third reviewer is Lord Kharl again, I'll have to figure something else out for the next chapter :3)

* * *

Natsume was decidedly uncomfortable with this pushy, mysterious stranger. The stranger seemed intent on only asking questions about subjects Natsume didn't want to talk about, and evidently hadn't tired of asking even after many long minutes had passed.

"Why didn't you come exploring with your friends?" Natsume fidgeted nervously, determinedly focusing on his fingers. He could feel the older boy watching him.

"...They didn't want to come." The stranger never questioned his answers, either. Even when Natsume himself could hear the lie in his words, the stranger never pushed for the truth or mentioned the lie.

"Why not?" It didn't make the questions any less awkward, though.

"Because I don't have...many. Many friends." _Because I don't have_ any_ friends. _"I'm pretty new to the area."

"Then...will it take long for you to find your way home? Where do you live?" Their (-one-sided interrogation-) conversation was disjointed and jumpy, as the older boy seemed content to alternatively let silence stretch and whip out random questions at a complete whim.

"..." Natsume felt rude, not answering like this, but he wasn't about to give his address to someone he knew nothing about. The other boy took Natsume's silence in stride and forged on.

"Won't your parents be worried if you stay out?"

"...My parents..." (a small, far too familiar stab of pain) "no, they won't be worried." The Rakutos weren't even home yet; of course they wouldn't worry. His real parents...well, they probably weren't capable of worrying.

Natsume turned and fixed his gaze on the door. He started, shocked. The other boy pretended not to notice.

"Why won't your parents be worried? What kind of parents would be worried about their child?" Natsume wanted very much to leave at this point, as his parents were something he didn't want to think about, but he had noticed a new shadow standing in the doorway. This time, Natsume was sure it was the yokai that he had seen outside before.

"...My guardians aren't home yet."

"Your guardians? Not your parents?" Natsume nodded, tense, his eyes still fixed on the immobile shadow. He silently prayed that it wouldn't be able to come in...

He was only half-paying attention to the conversation at this point. Unbeknownst to Natsume, the other boy noticed this and casually took advantage of it.

"Who are your guardians?"

"Aunt and Uncle Rakuto." Only after the name slipped out did Natsume check himself. _Oops. I shouldn't have said their names, _Takashi thought guiltily. (Score one for nosy exorcist.)

"Hmm... Letting you wander by yourself so late in the rain," the older boy said speculatively. "I wonder just what kind of guardians would-"

Natsume's head snapped up, his eyes wide, at the implications of those words, and he interrupted, "No, you're wrong! They're very kind people." The other boy eyed him in silence. Natsume felt his face redden. His interruption had been the first time he'd been actively impolite to this stranger. "Very kind people," he mumbled strongly for emphasis. He was firmly looking anywhere _but _this mysterious stranger. The tense silence stretched on, with Natsume focusing wholeheartedly on the shadow and mentally kicking himself.

So he flinched, just a little, when the older boy leaned over and patted him on the head. Then he relaxed a little and nodded his thanks. The older boy retracted his hand.

"Hey, do you have any paper I can write on?" In another abrupt (and this time rather welcome) change of subject, the stranger spoke his first non-question sentence.

"Yes." Natsume quickly dug out a pencil and a spare sheet of loose leaf, placing both in the hands of the mysterious older boy. He watched curiously as the older boy quickly scribbled something and folded up the sheet. He then stood up and walked over to the door of the shrine. Disappointed (he had _no reason_ to be; just because the stranger had seemed slightly interested in him meant nothing, after all) and slightly alarmed (as the yokai was still in the doorway), Natsume asked, "Are you leaving? It's still raining." A flash of lighting lit the windows, as if in response to Natsume's words.

"No, just putting this outside." Natsume bit back the question he could feel rising up to his lips. Even though the other boy seemed to have no qualms about asking Natsume anything, Natsume had no idea how rude it would be to ask why he was putting the paper outside. Better to say nothing and figure it out himself. He was so focused on trying to reason out the older boy's actions that he couldn't quite stop the cry of alarm that escaped him when the yokai bent over the stranger, thin black arm reaching out, as the older boy rose from where he'd crouched to set down the paper.

* * *

Seiji had written a simple note saying that he was stuck in the shrine off the road, and that he needed someone to come with an umbrella. The shiki wouldn't be able to bring him an umbrella; all the umbrellas they'd brought when they moved to the area were lined with seals underneath (wards of protection, seals that caused yokai pain and allowed the umbrella to substitute as a crude weapon, seals that hid human spiritual power, and spells that would show the true nature of things. Anyways, exorcist umbrellas are among the tools of the trade and are epic, so the shiki can't touch one). He was a little disappointed; he was fairly certain the child actually was human. He gave off body heat, for one; Seiji had patted the boy's head to check. There were some suspicious points in the child's story, but Seiji wasn't sure that the child actually was connected to spirits.

At least, not until he heard the child cry out in alarm when his shiki moved to pick up the note. It was then that he was certain the child could _see. _Seiji wondered how much potential he was looking at.

_Hmm...Hopefully, this won't be such a waste of time after all_, Seiji thought as he slid the door closed and innocently asked the child what was wrong.

* * *

Several fairly safe, rather random questions _(Is your house on this side of the river, why_ _aren't your guardians worried; what do they do for a living; what do you usually do in your free time; do you have a pet; what are you learning in school) _and answers _(...No; they're not home yet, they come back late; I don't know; ...running around and... exploring, I guess; no, I'm not allowed; lots of things)_ later, Natsume was feeling decidedly more relaxed and a little tired of questions.

"Do you have a favorite subject at school?"

"No," he murmured obediently. The answers came quickly and easily now, almost of their own accord, as Natsume stopped trying to follow the strange and sudden shifts in conversation.

"What's your name?" The older boy had accepted Natsume's half-hearted explanation about why he'd cried out earlier (he said he bit his tongue) with nothing more than an amused glance. It was strange; Natsume had been expecting the older boy to give him an odd look, the way other people did.

"Natsume Takashi," he answered reflexively. Realization slammed in. He then proceeded to mentally insult himself. He was such an _idiot. _Why was he was so _stupid? _A little resentful (and a little scared), he shot back, "What's yours?"

* * *

Seiji briefly considered the question, the first one this child (_Natsume_, he corrected himself) had posed. He jokingly considered saying "Matoba" (it would have been a fairly reliable way to discern how deeply Natsume was involved with spirits; the Matoba clan _was_ fairly famous among yokai), but decided against it. It wasn't worth the risk, and he didn't want to make the presence of exorcists in the area known just yet.

"...My name is Seiji."

* * *

Seiji-san, as Natsume now knew him, grew quiet. (Seiji was actually silently gloating over the fact that he finally found out Natsume's name. This would spare him a world of trouble; finding Natsume again would be very easy, now. But Natsume doesn't know that. :P )

Natsume was content to let the silence be; he knew he had said too much. He felt uncomfortable, almost stifled, sitting in the shrine with the stranger who knew so much about him. Only the rain and his own upbringing kept him inside the shrine; while considerably lighter, it was still raining, so he couldn't leave, and it seemed rude to go outside just to get away from someone when said person clearly wanted to talk.

"So, Natsume-kun, how new are you to the area?" And so the questions resumed.

* * *

Many questions later (in which Seiji manages to ferret out Natsume's age, the fact that he barely remembers his real parents, how long Natsume has lived in the area, and that Natsume moved rather often), Natsume had had enough.

"The rain's stopped; I'd better go now." Natsume had waited almost a whole hour to say that. He quickly got up and slung his bag over his shoulder.

"Wait."

Natsume instinctively paused at the tone of authority in that command. "You forgot this." Smiling politely, Seiji held out the pencil that Natsume had lent him.

"Thank you," Natsume mumbled quickly, flushing a little. He stuck the pencil in his pocket, pivoted, and strode over to the door.

"You're in such a hurry; do you want to go home that much?" Seiji said lightly. Natsume, who was already sliding open the door, faltered for just a second.

_Home..._

"Of course I do," Natsume said animatedly. Turning to face Seiji, Natsume carefully twisted his face into a smile, and then made his escape. He would have to wait for at least another two hours before the Rakutos came back to the house, but he ran back as fast as he could. Maybe he could leave behind all the things unsaid if he ran fast enough.

* * *

Seiji paused to wipe all the surprise from his face. It took longer than he expected to do something so simple. Only when he was sure his face was carefully blank did he walk up to the door and pull it open. He watched Natsume's retreating figure as the boy dashed off along the muddy road. His shiki ghosted up to his side, waiting to be addressed. Seiji turned to it.

"The message has been delivered?" The shiki nodded. "Good." The shiki bowed and left to patrol the shrine area again. Seiji went back inside; he would have to wait here for the person who would come with the now unnecessary umbrella. He sat down heavily, contemplative.

He'd been so _sure._ Maybe he misinterpreted something, while asking his questions. Or maybe it was because he didn't have much experience with normal people, people outside of his clan. (_Or maybe he didn't see what he thought he'd seen. _That little thought did creep up, but the parts of Seiji's brain labeled 'confidence' and 'experience' dragged that little thought back to the unconscious part of his brain and proceeded to beat it to...unconsciousness.) He could have sworn that Natsume Takashi was just a normal, slightly spirit-sensitive _human_.

But that single, parting expression planted a small seed of doubt in Seiji again.

He'd never seen a smile that _shallow_ on any normal child. Such an obviously-fake, _fragile_ smile wouldn't look out of place painted on a yokai's mask; it didn't belong on the face of a grade-school boy. It was the smile of someone who had long since forgotten the feelings meant to accompany a natural smile.

And he'd never seen eyes quite like _those_ on any face, human or yokai. He'd seen eyes full of hate, eyes tormented with hurt, eyes brimming with sorrow, eyes burning with rage, eyes wide with fear, even eyes void of anything but hopelessness. But he'd never seen such _lost_ eyes. This was the first time he'd _ever _seen eyes like Natsume's, drowning in such resignation and simple sadness, to the point that the pain could only be bottled up somewhere behind it all; eyes that both subconsciously cried out for help and actively stepped back from any help offered.

He really must have missed something. This warranted investigating.

* * *

Natsume didn't know why he'd done it. He was regretting it now, pounding along the pavement on his way home, his breath dragging at his lungs.

Perhaps it was because Seiji had seemed interested in him. Or because Seiji was the first person who didn't seem to care that he was weird. Or maybe it was just because he was tired of being alone, and Seiji didn't seem to mind his company.

And maybe, just maybe, he'd done it because some part of him believed that it just seemed too good to be true. That there could exist _any _human he wouldn't unintentionally drive away.

Takashi had stopped, just before the sight of the shrine vanished around a corner. He'd looked back.

And he'd seen Seiji speak to the black-and-white yokai. He'd seen the yokai nod and bow to the apparently-human figure. And some tiny hope he didn't know he'd been harboring collapsed into despair.

So Takashi ran. He ran and ran and ran. Some part of him vainly hoped that, if he ran fast enough, the wind would strip away the emptiness as easily as it blew the tears off the sides of his face.

* * *

**A/N:** So! I might've dragged this out quite a bit, but here you go.

In the manga, Matoba doesn't really seem like the type to talk a lot, but I guess he was different when he was younger~ There'd be nothing to write if one of them didn't do most of the talking. Plus, Matoba seems more go-getter and initiative than Natsume, so he is appointed chatterbox (or interrogater. Whichever title makes you happy).

I'm not too sure about the emotional-ly bits, as my writing tends to focus on things _happening._ Describing things that are felt is not really my forte, but I tried. I will gladly welcome any pointers, as I'm not too confident about a lot of those things. My first public fanfiction just happened to be such an 'emo' one. Oh well~

Since I have an extended weekend coming up, I will probably have more time to work on this then. I'm currently still juggling how to proceed from here (I've got about three separate ways to go from here, but they all end up at the same place, so I don't know which one to go with.) So if you like, tell me if you think this whole "figuring out that they're all human" situation is worth dragging out for a bit (it's now Natsume's turn to work out that, yes, Seiji actually is human). I'm considering just cutting it short in the next few chapters so the story can progress past that point, but I don't have any particular preferences. So I defer to the readers~ If you like all this drama and mental character-confusion and want lots more meetings in which they're misunderstanding each other and stuff, say so and I will go on from there. Or if you feel like this has gone on for long enough and want the storyline to progress at a faster pace, with the initial confusion all gone, then say that instead.

(I'd put a poll on my profile page about that question, but I have no idea how to do it. Plus, I'm kinda lazy, so typing the question here is easier that figuring out the complicated workings of this site. It took me a ridiculous amount of time to figure out how to put up a new chapter.)

Thank you all for reading~ I promise I WILL put up another chapter eventually.


	4. The second encounter: The Hunted Hunter

**A/N: **I'm ba~ack!

So, I think my proper ramble-ness has pretty much come back entirely, thanks to this wonderful 4-day weekend. And if it hasn't come back completely, it doesn't really matter; I still have lots of stuff to say :P not all of which involves the story (which is how I know it's starting to come back; I have less to say about the actual story and more to say about random [randomer?] topics).

Another very long chapter~ Actually, this one goes beyond just long. It's almost as long as the rest of the chapters put together, and is about as long as two chapters. (It could be split pretty evenly into two chapters, but I haven't been able to sit at a PC and properly _write _for so long that I'm now typing a lot since I have the time. And since all you readers have waited more or less patiently, I decided to just give you a really long chapter that I might or might not break into two later on. The next chapter shouldn't take as long to come out.) I'm working to keep them long and make them longer, instead of just ending at every possible chapter break (which is basically what I did in the beginning). This also means that I generally take longer between chapters, but everyone seems to prefer just having longer chapters. It's all the same to me; I write up about the same amount either way.

I think that in the future I will ask for reader-answered questions much earlier on (maybe a few chapters before I actually need the feedback). I have this habit of (daydreaming by) planning out storylines and 'feeding' plot bunnies during my spare moments. As this work has been my most current obsession (and my record-breaking longest obsession, for anyone interested), I was going to mentally work out all the little details of this chapter whenever I found time to (which is generally how I've been able to update so far; planning in my empty seconds and typing furiously in my stolen hours. Plus, printing out hard copies of the chapter I'm working on to proof-read between classes helps... T_T But! It also gives me something to do during time that would otherwise be spent unproductively, so it's all good). Then I realized that I couldn't start _really _planning out this chapter until I got an answer to my previous question.

I was so _bo-o-ored _in my spare time... (even if it WAS only a few minutes here and there... -3- ). Do you guys ignore my A/N's? Should I make them shorter? DX (I would understand if you did leave them for later, as I tend to have a lot to say and the storyline comes first...and then comes commenting about the storyline...but still...)

So this chapter's dedicated to Xaikra, the first one who gave me the feedback I asked for~ (even if it's not immediately apparent that your wishes were listened to, I promise that I _did_ cut some corners and it could've taken a lot longer for all the 'figuring out' processes to come to an end).

* * *

Natsume got home safely. There was nothing unusual that night (Natsume finished his homework while waiting on the doorstep and wiped off the mud he'd accumulated on the soles of his shoes. The Rakutos got home well after sunset. Natsume quietly ate dinner while they yelled at each other, sometimes about him, and Natsume went to bed). Natsume, still feeling depressed and slightly betrayed, was grateful for the few hours of strained normalacy. He wondered why Seiji (was that even his real name?) was trying to impersonate a human, but decided that it didn't matter. Nothing good came of getting involved with yokai.

The thought that Seiji was just a human who, like Natsume himself, could see spirits _did_ cross Natsume's mind, but Natsume had decided that it was too unlikely. Throughout all his years and 'travels', he'd never met a single human who could see the things he did. However, there had been a great many yokai who'd been interested in (eating, most of the time,) him, and a few who'd tried to trick him into thinking they were human (like one of the yokai in vol. 1 of the manga, in the 'discovering Tanuma' arc). The odds of finally finding some like him were far, far too low for him to count on, and he resolved not to allow himself that false hope.

The next day, unfortunately, things became...difficult again. There was another burst of strangeness (after feeling it repeatedly, Natsume decided that 'strangeness' fit the odd sensation-feeling best) in the morning, and he managed to land himself in the Nurse's office for much of the afternoon when a large, bird-shaped yokai with four legs (or maybe two of them were arms) darted a large wing through an open window and knocked him down the stairs. Down four flights of stairs, as a matter of fact, and ending on top of another student. (He didn't know why the yokai didn't like him, but it had been eyeing him malevolently from the windows ever since it realized he could see it, and made him drop his lunch twice now by suddenly appearing and glaring at him.) After the Nurse tutted and patched him up and commented that he was becoming far too familiar a visitor (he'd already seen her many times; once when he'd gotten a cut from the glass of a milk bottle he'd shattered when he dropped it, once for all the little scrapes he'd gotten when another kid pushed him into a thorny bush on the way to school, and another time when his fingers were crushed by a door in a yokai-caused 'accident'. All within the course of ten days), he'd gone back for what was left for class and spent the time focusing on _not _focusing on the throbbing bruises he could feel all over his arms, legs and back. Natsume was familiar with bruises (unfortunately so), and knew that most of his would throb for hours and be very sensitive for about a week. The scrapes on his palms, his knee, and his forehead, however, had been bandaged by the nurse and would probably heal and stop bothering him after a day or so.

Natsume carefully limped out of school (he'd landed on his leg badly earlier and it was starting bothering him) and turned down the path that led across the river, to where he currently lived. Then he paused, in the middle of a step, waiting for the sudden burst of strangeness to pass (he was almost getting used to it). He turned around, slowly. He hadn't noticed before, but he could tell, vaguely, which direction the sensation was coming from. It felt close. The feeling seemed harmless...it didn't seem very far... he still had to wait for a few hours... and he _was _getting curious...

"Oi, liar! What are you just standing there for?"

"You live the other way, _baka_!"

Natsume flushed slightly. A trio of boys from his class (he never bothered to learn their names; Aunt Rakuto had made it clear that Takashi wasn't staying for long) was jeering at him.

"Did you forget where you live, weirdo?"

"Freak!"

"Come on, leave him. Let's go home."

"Hey, wait, where're you going? Oi!"

Natsume, ignoring the other boys (he knew full well by now that responses only encouraged people like them), set off determinedly in the direction he'd felt the pulse from. He wanted to know what it was. The other boys' questions bounced off a seemingly deaf wall as Natsume hurried along. Soon the trio got tired of asking and just went home, talking about some TV show that was airing tonight. Natsume slowed as their voices died, easing up on his leg again. He hoped it really wasn't far away.

Five minutes later, Natsume was seriously considering turning back. He was following, with a little difficulty, the residual strangeness in the air (it was a bit like following a smell to its source, except the 'smell' was really strong, lingered in the air longer, and felt off somehow). He was getting pretty close to the shrine where he'd gone the day before yesterday, and he _really _didn't want to see Seiji again.

_"You...human...I know...can see me..." _Natsume whipped around, trying to identify the source of the raspy voice. His eyes widened.

_"How dare you...you can see me and yet...you don't...I'm supposed to...all alone...HOW DARE YOU!?" _The large yokai that had pushed Natsume down the stairs earlier lashed a clawed, four-fingered arm (or was it another leg?) out and wrapped its large fingers around Natsume's neck, squeezing hard and dragging Natsume into the air. Natsume hung, legs vainly flailing underneath him as he fought to breathe, to cry for help, to do _something._

"Let...GO!" Natsume choked out. He brought his fist down on the fingers strangling him, willing for them to loosen. The yokai jerked back, crying out in pain, and its fingers loosened enough for Natsume to fall to the ground, gasping. He wasted no time trying to get his wind back; he just propelled himself up and ran, hoping he could make it to the shrine. (The fact that the yokai had stopped to nurse its rather dented fingers meant he had a small head start.)

_Turn right at the end of the next street, get through the forest path, and I should be right there..._

Natsume panted for breath and ran for his life. He had almost reached the clearing where the shrine stood when the yokai's fingers closed around his neck once more and plucked him off the ground again.

* * *

_"You're the human...can see me...I'm supposed to be ALONE...always been alone...you impudent...OUCH! Gah..." _The yokai whirled around in surprise and pain, one hand still choking the boy, the other clutching at the gash that had opened in its side. Two black, oval-masked shiki looked back, each threateningly wielding a bladed staff. Blood coated the blade of the foremost; the wounded yokai shrank back at the sight of its own blood.

"Put that child down." A human garbed in black stepped out of the woods; another oval masked yokai trailed behind him. There was power in this human; strong, honed _power_, not the raw energy that the human child gave off.

_"These are...shiki...human made...so then you are...an..."_ The yokai looked at the human in evident fear. _"...but...here?...You should not be...none in this area...No, wait...then this...an exorcist child?" _The yokai peered down at Natsume (who really was very close to passing out and was barely aware of what was happening), then threw him away in fear and disgust. It whisked around and disappeared in a silent rush of wind and feathers, vanishing into the forest. Seiji watched it escape and decided that pursuit would be pointless; he'd only come to reset a spell that went off, not capture a yokai of _that_ speed and caliber. He made a mental note that there was a large bird yokai inclined to attack humans in the area, and turned to the fallen child.

As it was, he turned just in time to see the panicked child slam his fist into the mask of the shiki that was gripping his wrist (to keep him from running off). With a sound akin to a window breaking, the shiki crumpled to the ground and Natsume fled almost as quickly as the bird had. Seiji stared at the motionless shiki in surprise for a full second before he could react.

"Hey, wait-!" But Natsume had already turned a corner and was out of sight, swallowed by the plant life. The child probably hadn't even seen him. Seiji gave up on that front as well and turned his attention instead on the fallen shiki. Getting no response despite his proddings, he ordered one of the other shiki to take its fallen comrade back to the mansion. He'd have to fix its cracked mask later, and Nanase would probably scold him. Despite that, Seiji was feeling very satisfied. _One blow. _Ever since Nanase had confirmed that Natsume Takashi was human, Seiji had been trying to think of a way to gauge the boy's power before they had to pull out of the area. _Just one, solid blow._

Seiji turned and went back into the forest, where his alarm spell had been set originally. Sighing, he picked up the umbrella he'd discarded when he heard the commotion, reactivated the concealing wards layered underneath (so he wouldn't be bothered by normal humans), and began to redraw his spell circle.

* * *

Natsume pounded back along the route that he'd run just moments before, this time away from the shrine. He'd slown down as he sensed no pursuit, but kept up a quick, steady pace. He _had _seen Seiji, in fact, but Natsume wasn't particularly upset about that.

_''Exorcist child". _Of all the little snatches of conversation he'd half-heard in his oxygen-deprived state, that one stuck the most. That, and the fact that the yokai had been afraid of Seiji. (Natsume had felt the fear flowing from it, while it had been touching him. It made his head hurt.) Natsume jogged steadily all the way back to the empty house, silently pondering what it all could mean.

* * *

The next day was normal, as school days went. There was another bout of strangeness during lunchtime, but Natsume wasn't particularly interested in it (not after what happened yesterday). He made it through school with no mishaps or little 'accidents'. Which should have been a good thing, except it meant that Natsume had nothing to distract him from his questions. He wondered and wondered and wondered, but got nowhere. By the time he was walking out of school, he was just about ready to give up and accept that he had no answers.

That was _before_ a large shadow flitted by overhead. Squinting up through the afternoon sunlight, Natsume saw the bird yokai from yesterday soar silently overhead, spiral once, and land somewhere close by.

_No. This is stupid, this is a bad idea, I really shouldn't be doing this, this is suicide, this is stupid..._

Silently chanting '_nothing good comes of getting involved with yokai'_, Natsume turned and walked towards where he'd seen the pseudo-bird land. He was going to get some answers.

"Hey, Natsume! You're going the wrong way again!"

"Where are you going? Hey! Weirdo! Don't ignore us!"

But Natsume, busy trying to figure out how to make such a large yokai talk (and still mentally chanting insults and reasons that this was a bad idea), didn't pay the trio any mind.

* * *

Natsume located the large not-bird a little while later. It was perched on a public bench in a little clearing just off the road, with its back to the forest and its eyes closed (in sleep or in meditation, Natsume didn't know). Natsume, looking at it from the side of ther road, felt more nervous the more he studied it. It stood about six feet high, with a pair of clawed feet gripping the back of the bench it was perched on and another pair tucked up against its chest (the way birds do with their feet when they're flying). Its face was broad, flat, almost disk-like, and coated with small, white feathers, a stark contrast to the rest of its brown, thickly plumed body and black-speckled wings. Its eyes faced forward like those of a predator's and were set just above the large, thick, wickedly curved beak that stood out in sharp relief from the rest of its face. Its long tail feathers, colored just a shade darker the the rest of its body, twisted in the wind like strands of hair and brushed the ground below where it perched. All in all, every instinct in Natsume yelled at him to leave before the yokai opened its eyes. Curiosity, however, won out, and Natsume cautiously approached it. He silently climbed onto the bench (it was a fairly long bench, and Natsume positioned himself off to it's side).

"Excuse me?" (All of Natsume's 'instincts', every last one of them, violently facepalmed.) The not-bird irritably cracked open an eyelid.

_"You dare...ah! You are...exorcist child..." _Now fully awake, the bird turned its face towards him and eyed him in disgust. It turned itself away from Natsume and spread its wings, muttering, _"Don't like exorcists...should _eat_ you, I should...but more will come...leaving better...hey! Hurts...let go, let go, _let go!_" _Voice rising to a pained screech, it folded its wings and twisted its head around to glare angrily at the child clutching desperately at its feathers. It snapped its beak threateningly at Natsume's fingers. Natsume flinched, but clung on determinedly.

"Don't fly off, please. I want to talk to you." He carefully extracted his fingers. The yokai immediately bent over and fussed over its misplaced feathers.

_"Don't want...talk to you."_ It paused to shoot Natsume a look of disdain and hatred. _"Exorcist children...nothing but trouble." _Done with its feathers, it reared up and spread its wings again, sidling away from Natsume as it did so.

"No, wait! Don't...If you fly off I'll- I'll- I'll pull out your tail feathers!" As if to prove his point, Natsume hurriedly snaked a hand over the back of the bench and snatched up a handful of the streaming feathers. "Answer me! What did you mean by exorcist child?"

At the threat of having its feathers pulled out, it stopped and turned to glare heavily at the irksome little boy. It snapped at Natsume's fingers experimentally, but Natsume held firm. _"Let go...first," _it demanded. Natsume slowly released the feathers, ready to latch on to more if the yokai showed signs of leaving again. _"What are...exorcist children? ...Stupid...question," _it muttered as it carefully preened the feathers Natsume had grabbed. _"Children who become exorcists...children like you..."_

Natsume thought he had been completely confused before. He now found that he could be more confused still. Maybe he was misunderstanding something. "What do you mean by exorcists, then?"

_"Yokai hunters, obviously, you annoying child..." _It made to leave again, but Natsume absentmindedly snagged a few trailing feathers. The yokai made an indignant sound and yanked them back.

"But..." Natsume felt some urge to defend himself against the accusations of the unfriendly yokai, but he wasn't even sure what he was protesting. "I don't think I'll be an exorcist when I grow older. I didn't know they existed, actually. I have no idea _how_ I'd go about becoming an exorcist, anyways. Are there many exorcists?"

_"Ignorant child...there are far, far too many exorcists. Can't even eat a single human...without one showing up sooner or later for revenge. No more foolish questions." _It seemed to be getting more articulate the longer it spoke. Spreading its wings, it turned away from Natsume. _"Not allowed to touch young exorcists...Shouldn't get involved with them."_

It was almost in the air when it froze with realization and turned back to Natsume (who was busy digesting this information and missed his chance to protest its' leaving). It cocked its head at an angle, inquisitive, and stared at Natsume through a beady, amber eye. _"Did you say you don't intend...to be an exorcist? Not an exorcist child?" _It snapped its wings shut, thinking. Natsume watched it in wary silence (he wasn't sure if it was still considering eating him or not). _"Then...an exorcist's friend. Almost as bad...but less dangerous." _Nodding it itself, the yokai settled back more firmly into its perch. Natsume was relieved to see that it didn't seem intent on leaving first chance it got anymore. He chanced another question.

"Why do you think I'm friends with an exorcist?"

_"Are you not? But he helped you...before." _Natsume puzzled over this while the yokai swiveled its head all the way around, almost 180 degrees, to study the forest behind them.

"You mean Seiji-san? He's an... exorcist?"

_"The one yesterday, with the shiki...whose mask you broke. I saw you do it...You are powerful, yes. But he is an exorcist." _The yokai nodded empathetically (while its head was still facing backwards, which looked very odd from Natsume's point of view), still staring intently into the undergrowth. Natsume struggled with the wild hope that had flared up. He would _not _set himself up for this disappointment.

"Are all exorcists human?" He would wait until he got confirmation...he still had no proof that Seiji was like him...was _human_ like him...

_"Stupid, stupid friend of exorcists...such pointless, ignorant questions that need no answer. You talk too much. I'm hungry...I just ate, too, but talking with you so long...is making me hungry again. You...smell tasty. Better than the exorcist. Better than many yokai."_ It carefully turned around on its perch, spinning its body to face the same direction as its head. Its pupils dilated; Natsume wondered what it was doing.

Suddenly lunging toward the forest with inhuman speed, it managed to dive into the screening vegetation behind the bench before Natsume could react. He snatched at the moving yokai, fully expecting it to be gone before his fingers could reach it; it was moving too fast. So he was comletely surprised when his fingers closed on a handful of slim tail feathers. The yokai hadn't gone beyond the outlying shrubs, and was slowly backing into the clearing where Natsume watched it uncertainly. It dragged out into the open a struggling, terrified green-scaled yokai with a woman's head set on the body of a snake. It pinned down the frantically wriggling yokai and bent over it menacingly.

_"Are you a servant of...those wretched exorcists? Tell me...the truth." _

Under the baleful glare of the larger yokai, the smaller yokai whimpered and hastily babbled, "No! Not me, I'm no shiki, Fukuro-sama, I serve no human, so please don't-"

_"Good. Not shiki means...no angry exorcists." _Nodding once in satisfaction, it darted forward and closed its beak around the smaller yokai's scrawny neck, bearing down with a sickening _crunch. _Then it flipped the twitching body of the serpent into the air and, with a few practiced snaps of its beak, ate the smaller yokai whole. Natsume caught one last sight of a writhing green tail before the larger yokai swallowed convulsively and all traces of the smaller one disappeared down its throat.

Natsume watched this all pass in the blink of an eye. The large yokai (did it get a little bigger?) turned and began to worry at the feather shafts near the base of its tail. Natsume detachedly wondered what it was doing.

_"Let go," _it hissed.

Oh. Right. Natsume focused on uncurling his fingers. He could do that much, couldn't he?

The feathers slipped from his numb fingers. Satisfied, the yokai turned and climbed back on its perch and began preening again. Natsume stared at it dumbly, reeling from that simple act of savagery.

_"Small yokai are easier to eat, but...harder to find. The bigger yokai can't be swallowed whole, but they don't run as quickly...or hide as well," _it said nonchalantly, as if it hadn't just killed another sentient being. Natsume briefly wondered how it ate the yokai that couldn't be swallowed whole. He went a little green and decided that he really didn't want to know. He jumped a little as the yokai bent down to eye him, wondering why the child who had been so pushy was being so unresponsive.

_"Hmm...Even if I can't eat you, you...make good bait. The little ones come out to eat you, yes?" _Getting no response, it lightly pecked Natsume on the head.

"Ouch! Hey!"

_"You have eaten or seen others eat meat, have you...not? This is much the same."_ Natsume thought that there was a very, very large difference, but he wasn't particularly inclined to argue. He sat in silence.

_"Have you...no more questions?"_ It sounded almost disappointed. Right, Natsume had something he needed to ask...what was it? He couldn't think properly, he felt numb...

"Is Fukuro your name?" No, that wasn't the right question...

_"I don't know. I think...it is what the others choose call me. I suppose that makes it my name...Though I am sure I was called something else, a long time ago, by my own people." _Fukuro made a twitching motion with its wings that Natsume took as a shrug._ "One who speaks not with prey nor predators...only hunts or flees...needs not a name. Call me what you wish." _

Fukuro eyed Natsume expectantly. Natsume knew there was some question he wanted to ask, but he couldn't stop replaying the last few moments of the snake-yokai's life. He tried to come up with another question, any other question, but what came out was the one he was trying his hardest not to ask.

"Have you...killed many yokai, Fukuro-san?"

_"Yes,"_ It answered matter-of-factly._ "My people...scattered though we are...are hunters. We must eat and grow, or we will...be killed in turn." _Fukuro scowled (don't ask me how a bird can make facial expressions. Imagination makes everything possible). _"Exorcists...no, humans, break that rule. Prey does not aim to hurt. Predators aim to kill, but not to hurt. Not like_ _you..."_ Pointedly beaking at all the feathers Natsume had yanked at some point, Fukuro pressed on. _"Humans...They make things complicated. They now dictate the lay of the land and how the yokai must survive. They break up our flocks...with their hunting. We are not meant to be hunted, especially not by human prey, but human greed...sends exorcists after us...my people...weakened...captured because we can hunt...enslaved because we can see and we can sneak through your petty disguises and defenses...forced from the night hunt to the daytime...scattered...lost...hiding...alone...nameless..." _Rapidly spiraling into its own memories, muttering darkly, Fukuro turned away from Natsume and spread its wings.

"Wait!" At the mention of exorcists, Natsume remembered his question. Fukuro, wings still extended, swiveled its head around and glared down its back at Natsume.

_"Last question,_ human," it spat. Natsume flinched at the venom in its voice.

"Are...are all exorcists human?" he asked urgently. Fukuro sighed.

_"No. Sometimes a shiki continues exorcising...after its master has passed away. Rare is such a case, but...it _does_ exist." _Then Fukuro whirled off without a backwards glance, soaring away on silent wings. It was gone before Natsume could ask it if Seiji was one of those rare cases.

* * *

**A/N:** So, how do you all like my first and only OC thus far? (Though technically, it's the only one if you don't count the loud little schoolboys, the Rakutos, or the snake yokai that gets eaten.)

In my first chapter's warnings, I promised minimal violence. Something gets eaten and Natsume falls down the stairs. That was minimal violence.

For those of you who didn't figure it out, 'Fukuro' literally means 'owl' (or so I'm told). I know nothing of traditional yokai, so he (it? Fukuro's not really based on any gender) is pretty much completely original. He was going to be a fairly minor character (nothing more than another one of the random yokai who keep attacking Natsume), but...yeah...some things happened (that I won't describe via plot-bunny-analogy because I'm lazy that way, and can't describe in terms of nerves-and-electric-currents or psychiatry or quantum physics or whatever-else-describes-brain-processes because I'm not a college professor). His role will grow or shrink depending on what I have on the planning board for him to do, and general reader response (for example, I'm not going to risk incurring the wrath of a sea of enraged former fans just because I killed him off or something and you all loved him. At the same time, I'm not really the kind of writer who likes one of my OC's as a main character in a fanfic, so I'll figure something out.)

Yes, I _know_ Natsume still thinks Matoba's a yokai. You all don't have to waste your one review for this chapter complaining about it. I'm not going to finish it all in one chapter; it'll take maybe two or three more.

And I assure you, this _could _have been a lot longer. For one thing, Matoba could've not yet investigated Takashi when they next met (another accidental meeting), which means that Matoba's still a little doubtful about Natsume's humanity (because of that last little bit in the previous chapter) and the whole thing goes on for another few chapters before anything is clarified. That, or Matoba doesn't realize that he has some major explaining to do and only realizes that Natsume thinks he's a yokai after he invites Natsume into the clan and Natsume is very, very confused (which would be amusing, true, but would also involve a lot of POV shifts to explain what Natsume and Matoba thought differently about a word or a phrase. And since there are so many interpretations to write of the same phrase or action, everything takes longer, and less stuff happens in general). I also came up with another, much shorter 'cutting out the confusion' scene that involved a single explanation from Seiji, but decided that I should probably do the situation some justice and let it develop a bit. And so we have _this_ storyline~ ...which was actually originally much simpler, but (-mutated-) evolved very quickly under my full attention.

...and now you all have a little more info about the uncountable generations of plot bunnies that run though my head. They all ended up at the same place anyways, so I just displayed the spare plot bunnies above.


	5. The third encounter: Clearing it all up?

**A/N: **So, here's the promised update~

I went back and looked at my first chapters. They were terrible, and I realized how ridiculously slowly the story was moving. T^T (I think chapter one and two could just be one chapter...)

I'm focusing far too much on things in the distant future of this fic (which, I believe, is where all the interesting things happen), and I really need to pay more attention to where I'm at currently. So, I'm going to try picking up the pace a little~ Hopefully, it won't _ever _take three chapters to get through such a short scene again.

And another thing I'm changing. I've always spelled it as 'yokai,' but I was recently told that the correct spelling was 'youkai' (or yokai with a little line over the 'o', which might not register on FFN and would be too much of a pain to copy-n-paste every time anyway). I don't want to go back and change it all, because that'd be a pain in the as-..._neck_, so I'm just going to use 'youkai' from now on and apologize for all the previous misspelled usages of the word.

Yes, Fukuro makes a few repeat appearances. I don't know too much about owls (or youkai) besides what's generally known, and Fukuro isn't exactly owlish all the time, but I'm fairly satisfied with the character makeup and the role I've got in mind for him. I'm probably going to drop him out of the storyline eventually, though, as he wasn't meant to be a permanent character. So mention if you want me to keep him (_after _the next chapter. Your opinions of him might change a little ;L).

This chappie and the next one will be a little shorter, because there's this scene coming up where I just really want a chapter break for some reason. It was all going to be one really long chapter, but I decided that, having promised a quick update, it would take too long to write up. So I split it. The next one will be quick too; I've already got a hard copy half-written. :)

I think I've sort of figured out a system for dedications; I'm just going to alternate between some other authors in the NY-C fandom (and use that opportunity to recommend some other works~) and some of my notable reviewers.

So this chapter is dedicated to Sinnatious, who wrote a very amusing one-shot of Natsume/Natori, and a rather dark one about Natsume living forever.

* * *

After that incident, things were...abnormally quiet. The entire time it took to get home that night and go through class the next day, Natsume didn't see a single youkai. There were no youkai lounging around on the streets near the Rakutos' house, no youkai in the bushes on the way to school, and even the little midgets that had been running around the school were gone. There had been a few times when he thought he felt something watching him, and once when he thought he heard a distant scream, but his investigations into these matters proved fruitless. It was worrying, and very distracting.

There weren't any more pulses of strangeness either, though this didn't occur to Natsume until he was walking out of the school building at the end of the day. Natsume was feeling uneasy; he couldn't figure out what this lack of youkai meant. Some part of him idly dreamed that his life-long wish had been granted and he wouldn't see youkai anymore (his more pessimistic side shouted that part down. Besides, he could still feel some youki, or spirit energy, following him around).

It wasn't until he was well on his way home that he got an answer. Natsume slowly crossed the wide, sturdy bridge that spanned the river (the river snaked between the school and where he currently lived). He'd just reached the other side when the bushes lining the road rustled loudly and parted. Natsume jumped away from the noise and immediately whirled to assess the source of the movement (years of ingrained reflexes showing through). To his surprise, a frightened, roughly human-sized cyclops covered with blue fur jumped out of the woods and kowtowed frantically (meaning it essentially banged its head on the ground. Repeatedly) to Natsume.

"I don't know what the others may have done to offend you or your servant my lord-but-would-my-lord-please-call-offhisservantbeforeiteats-" its unintelligible babbling was abruptly cut off in a silent rush of color and wind. Natsume blinked and stumbled back from the burst of brown-and-white swirling colors that had appeared suddenly on the road (where the hell had this thing even come from? How could something so_ big _be so silent?). He watched, frozen, as the gibbering youkai was tossed up into the air (its blue fur stood out from the rest of the brown) and was snapped up...by an enormous beak.

Natsume's legs gave way under him, and he sat heavily on the ground. The brown creature stilled, and a white face swiveled around to look at him. It was a moment before Natsume recognized the imposing figure. He gasped.

_"Human child...friend of exorcists." _The bird bobbed its head in greeting.

"Fukuro-san? How did you...why are you so much bigger?" The youkai seemed to have grown over a foot taller in the single day Natsume hadn't seen it, though all its proportions seemed the same. The talons that had wrapped around Natsume's neck so easily before could now cleanly wrap around his torso.

_"Because...I'm eating more lately. Your scent and presence...attracts and distracts smaller youkai. I can hide mine...my presence under yours. Makes hunting easier...the prey is drawn to you, and does not notice me. I eat more so...I grow more. I grow quickly." _It nodded happily and hopped up onto a tree that grew on the side of the road, all four legs finding purchase on thick tree boughs.

"Do you have to eat so _much_?" Natsume asked, dismayed. All the (relatively innocent) youkai he normally saw -had they all been eaten? He carefully stood up; his legs felt unsteady.

_"Yes, I do. Exorcists in the area...setting up spells that react to my presence. Loud, those are. And I'm the only one in the area...strong enough to set them off. Warns off the other youkai. Spooks the prey." _It clacked its beak in displeasure. _"I must eat more now...while you make it easier to hunt. Soon the other youkai will know...that I hunt in your aura. Some already do. They will hide...they will run... when they feel you get close. I will eat much less, when I must hunt both away from you and away from exorcist spells." _

"But, then the other youkai living here-"

_"Will no longer bother you while I hunt them...And will probably stay away even after that. They think I...serve you. Protect you. Hunt on your orders," _it interrupted. It sounded cross._ "I'm no servant of humans...but this way, there will also be no...misunderstandings. If you are eaten here, the exorcists will hunt me...because I am the strongest here. Because I have hunted you before." _Natsume struggled, his sense of morality warring with his sense of self-preservation. He found a way to accommodate both.

"Even so, please stop using me to hunt! The other youkai think this is my fault; they think that I can control you." The begging of the blue cyclops made more sense to Natsume now. "They'll-"

Fukuro whipped forward and snapped its beak alarmingly close to Natsume's face, cutting him off.

_"Cleaning up human problems with other humans...and you are cleaning up youkai problems with other youkai, are you not? The others are all weaker than I...and I will hunt alone once the exorcists are gone. No need for a lure then...when stealth has always worked. That is the way the hunt should work. Not so complicated...with exorcist meddling and human bait. You cannot stop me...and the exorcist has no reason to." _

"Hey, look, it's the freak."

"What'cha you looking at, freak?"

Natsume started guiltily and turned to face the three boys who'd walked up behind him.

"Oh! Um...hi," he mumbled awkwardly. He began walking again; standing in the middle of road for no reason would be...unhelpful. The other children kept pace with him, though they stayed at a distance. Fukuro eyed them curiously its perch.

"Tohru-chan's mad at you, you know; she says you tripped down the stairs and landed on top of her a few days ago. You didn't even say sorry." (Remember that? :P)

"Shiro-kun says he saw you going off somewhere after school before."

"Araki-kun said the same thing. Where've you been going?"

"Umm...I've been...exploring. So I can find my way around later." Natsume looked away.

"Liar! Masamoto-sensei says you're moving again soon."

"And Agasaki-san next door says Rakuto-san doesn't want you in her house." Natsume flinched. The words stung. "Is that true?"

_"Can I eat...the noisy children?" _Natsume whipped around. Fukuro was also keeping pace with him, ghosting unobtrusively through the underbrush right next to the road. (How could it be so silent and...overlookable? It was so big, yet still managed to travel without attracting attention or rustling a single leaf...)

"No!" He leveled a glare at the large bird.

"Oh, really?" The kids snickered.

"Where are you looking? We're over here." Natsume focused on the kids following him again, slightly confused.

_"It has been a long time...since I've tasted human."_ Natsume turned to the owl again. The dual conversations were disorienting him.

"I _said, _we're over here. What're you looking at?"

_"You don't get along with the other children. They don't get along with you...by human definition, that makes you...enemies, yes? Will an exorcist seek revenge...for the enemies of his friend?"_

"I don't know! Don't touch them! Go away!"

"The freak's talking to himself again." The children unanimously drew away from Natsume, as if his weirdness was contagious.

"Come on, let's go. Let's get away from him."

"You're so creepy."

Natsume turned to watch the other boys walk quickly away, feeling withdrawn. Only when they were out of earshot did he turn back to the put-out bird.

"Leave me alone! Don't touch them, you hear? Not the youkai, not the humans!" The spirits, the people...Natsume was involving them just by being there. Nothing new, technically, but still.

Fukuro cocked its head to one side, considering. It nodded once.

_"A compromise, then. When you stay in that human building_ (he means school)_...I will go hunt elsewhere. Away from you. After all...there is only so much prey to be found in one area." _Natsume didn't feel that this was much better, but Fukuro turned and flew off before Natsume got another chance to protest.

* * *

Walking to school the next morning, Natsume was more acutely aware of the absence of youkai. He scanned his surroundings often, but never once caught sight of Fukuro. He was distracted all through the morning classes, trying to figure out ways to make Fukuro _stop killing the youkai around him_. He tried to work out how to forcefully stop Fukuro at first, but realized that was futile. The bird was _huge, _not to mention powerful, sneaky, and confident. Maybe he could warn the other youkai...? No, he hadn't seen a single youkai all day. He probably wouldn't see another for a long while yet (which _should _have been a good thing). Then he tried working on possible compromises...and came up with nothing. He had absolutely no idea what Fukuro would possibly want, outside of eating youkai. Then he started thinking of ways to solve Fukuro's problem...

By the afternoon, Natsume was mentally exhausted. _The exorcist's spells...no, Seiji-san's spells are the main issue. They're what are making it hard for Fukuro-san to hunt normally. I wonder why Seiji-san even has those spells lying around... _

Then, a long absent burst of wrongness made Natsume fall out of his chair. In the middle of his last class. After getting up and blushing bright red and apologizing for the commotion, Natsume sat back down and turned to stare out the window. He could pinpoint the source now.

_There. The feeling was coming from that direction._

It wasn't the same place as before; it felt a lot closer, and wasn't quite in the direction of the shrine. Natsume idly wondered what it was as he walked through the halls of school. Realization slapped him in the face just as he cleared the open double doors of the school.

'_...setting up spells that react to my presence. Loud, they are.'_

Exorcist spells?

Natsume stepped out of the stream of students leaving the school. He turned, facing the source of the previous burst of strangeness. His feet carried him automatically forward as he considered the possibilities. If they _were _the spells Fukuro spoke of, then maybe he'd find Fukuro there...or maybe he'd find Seiji. And if they _weren't_...well, at least he'd find out what they were.

Lost in thought, following the path that he had traveled far too often recently, Natsume didn't notice the trio of curious boys tailing him.

* * *

Seiji sighed. Any normal, sightless human would have been startled at the sound of an invisible person sighing, but this patch of woodland was relatively free of people. (It was also free of youkai, but that was more thanks to Seiji's presence than the lack of roads...)

Seiji _did_ understand why he was supposed to do this. He really did. He _knew _why knowing all the threats in the area was crucial, and why Seiji had to be the one to do it and not Renka (because Renka did all the wards around the house. He was already done with his job, the lucky b*$t*rd). That didn't make sitting in the dirt for an hour, holding an umbrella, being drained of energy, any less _tedious._ He was almost done with this one, luckily, and he would only be in the area for another week or so.

He closed his eyes and concentrated. This seal was almost fully charged; he just had to top off the collected power without setting off the spell (which was another reason he was usually assigned 'alarm' duty; it had to be either him or Renka, as Nanase was busy with paperwork and the like. And Renka wasn't very adept at precision; thus his assignment to house-ward duty. No one minded if the wards on the house were a little strong, after all).

It was then that he heard voices in the distance. Children's voices, calling for something. Concentration broken, Seiji tsk'ed and squeezed his eyes closed in an attempt to regain his focus. His attempt failed as the voices drew steadily closer. He'd probably have to wait for the children to pass by before he could try to finish this up. The bushes to his left rustled, but he paid it little mind. His shiki would drive off anyone (or any_thing_) they didn't recognize.

"Hey, where'd he go?!"

"He was just here. Come on, let's find him."

"Oi! Natsume! Come out!"

_Natsume?_

"...Seiji-san?" Seiji opened his eyes. The soft question had come from his left. He turned his head and scanned the bushes until he spotted the silver-haired boy hiding under the leaves of a low-growing tree. "What are you...? Oh!" Eyes wide with realization (Seiji had no idea what Natsume just realized, but he recognized the realization), the little boy crawled out of his hiding place and walked tentatively to the clearing where Seiji sat. He sat down and watched Seiji with a mixture of curiosity and wariness.

"Don't touch the circle," Seiji said curtly. He could see that the child was itching to ask questions, so he took the passive role and waited for the questions to come. (It seemed only fair, considering the one time they'd spoken previously. Seiji had done all the asking then.)

"Are you...an exorcist, Seiji-san?" He looked the child with surprise.

"Yes. How did you know?" (So much for letting Natsume do the asking.)

"A youkai told me. Are you-"

"What youkai?" Seiji interrupted, a little alarmed. He pondered what youkai would be able to tell Natsume that he, specifically, was an exorcist. _My shiki can't speak, the youkai in the area don't know my name, and the one time I spent any length of time with Natsume was in an empty shrine. So the most logical explanation would be that Natsume was specifically asking the youkai about me and one of them happened to know something, or that the youkai who told him was directed to pass on that information..._

"A bird youkai. The one you saved me from a few days ago." This abruptly halted the wild speculation and conspiracy suspicions in Seiji's head. He paused to digest this.

"So you _did _see me then..." he managed. Natsume flushed guiltily. "And how exactly did you come to speak with a youkai that was trying to kill you?"

"I...I had some questions for it," Natsume mumbled indistinctly, "So I tracked it down to ask them." Well, _that_ was...unusual.

"Seiji-san, are you...human?" Seiji blinked at the sudden topic change.

"Of course." He shot Natsume an amused look, intending to ask why Natsume had thought otherwise. The question never made it past his lips as he took in the expressions on the boy's face.

There it was again; that bitter emptiness that didn't belong on a child's face. Seiji had investigated and thought he understood the reasons for that nothingness better now. Seiji watched Natsume struggling with himself, childlike hope and cynicism worthy of any exorcist clashing in his eyes.

"I really am human, Natsume-kun," Seiji said, looking straight into the child's eyes. The child jumped a little, obviously unaware of how clearly his emotions were playing across his face. Natsume stared back into his eyes, and Seiji watched with satisfaction as belief won out.

"I...I'm sorry."

"For what?"

Seiji never did find out. Right then, a trio of boys about Natsume's age stumbled into the clearing.

"Found you! Is this where you've been going after school?"

"Natsume, why'd you run off?"

"What's this circle-thingy? Did you draw this? Weird."

"We heard you talking to someone. Who were you talking to?"

Seiji made a quiet, aggravated noise in the back of his throat. Little boys were so _noisy. _(It's true, too. *nod nod* I have one such little boy in my close family. Natsume is just an exception to the general rule.) He turned to Natsume, about to signal him to keep quiet about Seiji's presence (the umbrella-wards only hid Seiji himself, not the sounds he made), and was confused by the dawning horror on Natsume's face.

Quietly, almost to himself, Natsume muttered the words. Or maybe he just mouthed them; Seiji couldn't tell. He read the words off Natsume's lips, and realized what the child was thinking.

_They can't see him._

There was a world of implications behind that thought, but Seiji grasped the most obvious one immediately.

_Oh, shoot, _he thought.

* * *

**A/N: **Remember the wards I mentioned in the previous chapter? The ones on the umbrella that Seiji activated to keep normal people from seeing him? Yeah. Those.

I hope you all were NOT expecting that little cliffie; it means I've done my job well. Yes, I promised to clear this up quickly, but first Matoba has to realize that there's something to clear up. And now he has. And now I can move on, because the all the bunnies involving this scene will give up, their one chance to be written lost, and (most importantly) stop laying seige to my thought processes.

I'm sorry this was a little late (and yes, it IS late). I meant to put this up yesterday, but for some reason, this ending just would. Not. Write. Itself. (RAWR.) So I might have forced it a little. I'm sorry if that ruins the moment (*kowtows*). Please forgive me.

The next one is a very emotional part, with lots of crying and mental kicking-of-self (more kicking and less crying for Seiji). Hopefully, it will be a lot better than the sappy junk I used at the ending of the third chapter; I think writing this is reawakening my summer-vacation-stagnant writing skills.

The next chapter will be up...well, in a few days. School's started again, after that 4-day break I just can't seem to get over, so the writing frenzy I was in during that little vacation is starting to wear off. The next chapter wrote a good bit of itself, though (...during class hours. I swear I didn't learn a single thing in class today, I was so obsessed with writing out the bunnies banging around in my head and constantly nibbling on my normal, non-bunny thoughts ^_^"), so it should be out by the end of this week. Maybe before, but no promises.

The 'Renka' that Matoba mentions a few times is an actual person, another of my OC's. (It took forever to decide the name. Currently offering a reward to the first person to correctly guess-and-review which manga its from! Hints: Yuki, Akabara, Bridget, Saberhagan, Corrosive Moonlight, GM Gozen, Black Swan, aliens, vampires...oops, said too much ;L As to what the reward will be...umm...recognition? PM'ed spoilers? I'll figure something out.) Renka will be making an appearance...eventually. More details when he does~

**Update: **MayuRain has won the semi-contest~And received the reward. To anyone else who knew what manga this was from, sorry.


	6. What a Human Can't Do, What an Owl can

**A/N: **Ta~da! That took a remarkably short time, considering its length. I wasn't intending to make it this long at first, as technically not a lot happens, but...yeah...

And I would've gotten it out faster too, but something strange happened with my wireless internet connection when I tried to save my almost-complete draft. And so, I lost most of my draft and had to retype it. Twice. DX

Anyways, you might want to start seriously considering following my advice about parentheses. (The advice I gave you in Chapter 1. In the first A/N) When too much tension and darkness and depressing stuff builds up, it is within my nature to respond with comic relief via parentheses :b

...which absolutely _kills _the mood. ('Kill' is a fairly relative term. In this case, I use it to mean 'shred to little pieces, throw said pieces into a convenient fire, and the ashes to four convenient winds.)

You have been warned.

Moving on! This chapter is dedicated to MayuRain, who happens to have read the same fairly obscure manga as me. Now anyone who reads the comments will know where Renka got his name (though I haven't introduced him yet, and probably won't for a while).

I think I said in the last chapter that I don't know too much about owls. That includes their wing structure. I honestly don't know if it's possible for owls to do what Fukuro does, but if it's not, then we will all use our imaginations and pretend that Fukuro's wings are just different. Tell me if you like him or no~t, I plan on taking him out of the plotline in...four~six chapters or so if no one likes him (it?) that much. If people like him, I'll...go out on limb a little and drag him back to life after killing him off. (Which actually wouldn't be too much effort on my part, since he _does _have bunnies dedicated to him even after the point where he could possibly drop out of the story. Those bunnies will "help" drag him back to life within the chaos of my head.)

Anyhow, I mentioned that this was a very emotional part. I believe I also mentioned that emotion is not my forte (though I'm kinda proud of this piece. It's not _bad, _I'm just not sure if it's good). So go easy on me. Here goes~

*Takes a deep breath-*

* * *

Natsume was...surprised, when he found out that Seiji was human. He didn't quite understand why. Maybe it was because he really had managed to convince himself that he was alone, that happiness was something he would be forever denied.

For one moment, just one single moment, Natsume truly believed that he wasn't alone anymore.

_They can't see him._

And then the part of him that had never believed, would never believe, and had always been _right_ about it, reasserted itself. So what if Seiji'd lied? It was nothing new. Natsume stumbled backwards, pushing the betrayal and sudden flux of pain away.

"Don't touch that circle!" He urgently warned the others. He backed away slowly, horrified eyes fixed on Seiji. Seiji was frowning; he raised a hand in Natsume's direction, a silent command to stop. His other hand waved out a white-masked shiki and (the hand, not the shiki) made a shooing motion at the nervous children (nervous because Natsume was scaring them, as per usual). The shiki stepped forward, arms outstretched, and Natsume dashed towards it as he realized its intentions. He grabbed its arm and yanked it back, trying to keep it away from his classmates.

"Stop it! Don't touch them!" He cried out, half in anger, half in fear. His voice was drowned out by the other boys' cries of surprise.

"Whoa! What the hell is this?" (Don't ask me how little boys know how to curse; they're rarely as innocent as you think they are. Especially when they start nearing the double digits in age.)

"What's up with this wind?"

Natsume turned to see another shiki herding the children out of the clearing. He let go of the youkai he'd been pulling and tried to go stop the other one; the shiki grabbed him from behind and latched on to his shoulders.

"Let. Me. Go!" He writhed and twisted, but the shiki held firm. The other boys, spooked by the unnatural 'wind', willingly left the clearing with a few_ 'what was that' _s and_ 'how weird' _s. They didn't spare Natsume a second glance. He paused to watch them leave him behind, wondering if he should feel upset about that.

When the other children were just barely out of earshot, Seiji spoke softly.

"I apologize for that, Natsume-kun, but I can't let normal humans know-"

"Shut_ up_!" Natsume growled. Catching the shiki by surprise, Natsume dragged it forward, off balance, and lashed out. His fist connected cleanly with the oval mask (Natsume had learned that the mask was a good place to aim for from their previous encounters), and the shiki collapsed. Natsume ran off, in the opposite direction of the children. Seiji (that probably wasn't his name, was it?) had made it clear that he was only interested in Natsume; if Natsume went with the others, the other boys would get involved again.

There was also another, simpler reason he didn't head back to civilization. He just really didn't want to be around other people when all the pain he'd forced down came bubbling back up.

* * *

Seiji seethed. He was feeling _beyond_ frustrated. He wanted to talk with Natsume and clear up this silly misunderstanding.

But he couldn't. Thus the seething.

If he called out loud enough for the fleeing boy to hear, he'd attract the attention of the other children. Besides, Natsume probably wouldn't come back anyway; he'd run away faster.

He couldn't send his single remaining shiki out to try to bring the boy back and risk it being knocked out as well (the child was becoming ridiculously proficient at taking out his servants).

And he wasn't foolish enough to leave a half-completed spell alone for anything other than life-threatening danger.

So Natsume had gone, and Seiji sat and cursed his own poor management of the unexpected situation. Only when he resolved to handle the child better next time (and there _would_ be a next time, Seiji would make sure of that) could he calm down enough to concentrate and finish the spell.

* * *

Natsume was lost. Mentally, emotionally, and literally.

He ran, and jogged, and walked, and stumbled along. He walked in circles, in squares, in triangles, in lines, in curves, in random squiggles that went nowhere. He didn't see the thickening trees or the lengthening shadows; he just kept going.

Nothing was chasing him, and yet "nothing" chased him. The emptiness followed him, hounded him, and, when he finally ran out of strength and collapsed under a tree, it crashed over him and engulfed him like a tidal wave. He sat, listless, noting how the wind played with the leaves, how the growing shadows danced across the ground, how everything seemed to _belong_, except for him.

How he could just sit here forever, and no one would care.

(At least, not after they found his body and confirmed his death. Growing up around youkai has turned Natsume into such a morbid child, hasn't it?)

"Are you lost, little boy?" Natsume slowly turned his head. A brightly smiling face, framed by silver-streaked black hair and decorated with a pattern of crisscrossing lines across its forehead, peered back at him.

"You can see me, can't you?"

Ah. Natsume recognized those words.

The bright smile twisted into something feral and hungry. Natsume slowly got up, staring at the youkai. His legs shook with exhaustion, but he couldn't quite bring himself to care. He didn't even feel afraid; he was just getting ready to run because that was what he did. Running, hiding, searching for a safe place to stay, even when he knew that no place like that existed for him...

The youkai lunged. Natsume reflexively ducked low (lots of things were just reflexes for him). The youkai sailed overhead. Natsume pivoted on the spot and ran. He forced himself to _move_, to get away from the things forever chasing him. The things that he knew would forever chase him.

And then he tripped. (Epic-ly. With skid marks and the screech of suddenly-stopped-background-music and everything.)

"Caught you." Smug, the youkai grabbed his upper arms and lifted him upright. Its claws dug into his arms. Natsume stared at it. Even now, staring death in the face (literally), he couldn't make himself feel afraid. A small, treacherous part of him asked, _what's the point of running?_ And all the fight left him. This pain, this empty sense of lost, had been building up for years. Seiji's lie was nothing more than a trigger. The little bit that had broken the bottle he'd kept it all sealed in.

Just how stupid could he be, to think for even a moment that he _wasn't_ all alone?

Something flickered in the corner of his eye. That was all the warning Natsume received; by the time he turned his head to look, a large beak (even larger than when he'd last seen it) had clamped down on the human sized youkai and dragged them both into the air. The youkai screamed, its grip on Natsume painfully tight. Fukuro (he was almost as big as a single-story house now) shook its prey viciously. Natsume fell from the youkai's terrified grip and hit the ground, all the breath knocked out of him.

Fukuro made short work of the youkai. Then, before Natsume could even begin to say anything, it turned and plunged its beak into a nearby tree. Fukuro dragged out another youkai, one who'd been watching the whole thing, and gobbled that one too. Then it turned its attention to the boy at its feet. It leaned down and focused one large amber orb on him, eyes unreadable. Natsume sat up.

"Thank you, Fukuro-san." Natsume was functioning completely on automatic now. "That youkai would have eaten me if you hadn't come along." Polite thanks, smile, reassurances; check, check, and check.

_"You are lucky...human child. Lucky I was in the area. Lucky your power is so strong, so...trackable." _Fukuro leaned forward further, rubbing the tip of its beak along Natsume's arm. Natsume wondered what it was doing with an air of detachment. Then Fukuro nipped him on the arm.

"Ow! Hey!" The pain woke him a little, though, from a stupor he hadn't known he was in. He rubbed the place on his arm where he'd been bitten. His arm didn't hurt as much as he thought it would, having just been pinched by a giant beak, but something felt...off. He absentmindedly wondered what it was; he didn't particularly care.

_"You are bleeding." _Natsume blinked in surprise. He looked at the hand that had been rubbing his arm. It was smeared with red; he'd succeeded in covering his whole upper arm with bloody handprints. He checked his other arm; there were five puncture holes where the nameless youkai had dug its claws in, just barely distinguishable as red in the fading light of the sun.

The sun.

Oh, _crap_.

"I have to get back." Natsume stood abruptly. He swayed, twice; strain was showing the toll it had taken. Fukuro eyed him speculatively.

_"Can you walk?" _Natsume nodded, trying to seem surer than he felt. Some quiet part of him asked, _what's the point of going back?_ (That same part had asked a similar question before.) Natsume ignored it and started walking, trying to remember the way he'd come from.

_"Wrong way. Go that way." _Fukuro nodded at the setting sun._ "It will take you back to...the place you stay at night." _Any other time, Natsume would have been disturbed to know that a youkai knew where he lived. Right now, he found that he really didn't care. _"I will go in the same direction, but...not accompany you on your path. You are exhausted, so...your scent is weaker, but you are also...bleeding. And you are upset...vulnerable. Weakness draws out others, and you do not come this way often...I will hunt well tonight. If you need help, or you lose your way...call for me loudly, and I will hear you." _And Fukuro left.

Natsume blinked at the sudden departure. He stood there for a while, listening to the silence of his surroundings. He was alone again, or so it seemed. He sighed. Then he turned to face the sunset, picked up his weary feet, and started walking again.

* * *

Natsume walked. And walked. And walked some more. Every step dragged at his aching limbs, but he didn't stop. How long had he run through the forest, away from Seiji and other people? He needed to get back soon. He walked up until the sun set proper, turning a world of flitting shadows into a world of solid darkness.

It was too dark for him to walk without risking injury. He memorized the direction he'd been walking in (he couldn't rely on Fukuro all the time, as it would probably be to Fukuro's advantage if he wandered around lost in the wrong direction for a bit), then turned to find a place to sit. Using touch alone, Natsume located a tree and sat down heavily, propped up against the trunk. He'd have to wait to the moon to rise a little; he _had_ to be getting close. He rested his aching muscles, legs stretched out in front of him.

After sitting for some time with no change at all (still blind), Natsume tiredly wondered if there was a new moon tonight. It would be just his luck, should that be the case. He looked up, trying to spot any stars; he found none. The trees blocked out the starlight.

For some reason, that one little thing -being denied even the light of the stars- was what finally did Natsume in, what finally made everything too much. The straw that broke the donkey's back, so to speak.

Natsume hunched in on himself, suppressed sobs racking his thin frame. He grit his teeth and held them in; he knew that if he started crying, he wouldn't be able to start walking again. So he clamped his mouth closed, screwed his eyes shut, shook and trembled like a leaf in the wind, and felt horribly, achingly alone.

* * *

He didn't know how long he sat like that, throbbing with pain and being eaten alive by emptiness, but a sound interrupted his silent sobs. An inquisitive hoot, deeper and drier than any owl he'd ever heard, sounded above him. He opened his tear-laden eyes and looked up. Two large, gleaming eyes shone back.

"Fukuro-san." Natsume was too spent to even feel surprise.

_"In the last few minutes...all that would be foolish enough to come have already done so, drawn by your scent. It grows overpowering; had I just not eaten them all...perhaps I would try to eat you now. What upsets you so...little one? Is it that you fought with that...exorcist?_

"You saw?"

_"I watched from a distance. I saw you run. Had I not chosen to help, I would have...watched another eat you. I know not why you fought, but no such friend...the young exorcist seems."_ Fukuro gave a soft whistle that Natsume took for approval._ "So you are not an exorcist child, nor the friend of an exorcist. Nothing more than...a normal, weak human child." _Natsume frowned.

"I'm not like normal human children. I can see you."

_"As have other humans over the ages, little one." _Fukuro chuckled at the dumbstruck expression on Natsume's face. It seemed much more comfortable with Natsume now._ "There have been...and still are...many humans who can see. That you can as well is not...nearly as unique as you would think. But, tell me something, child of man. You fought shiki...to protect the humans you detest, yes? And yet...you would not struggle for your own sake, just before. Why?"_

"It's complicated. I don't think you'll understand if I try to explain it." This amused Fukuro greatly; Natsume could hear it warbling in mirth.

_"I, the elder by uncounted eons...and a child thinks I will not understand his words. Little one, just because I've not spoken to another for...many years, does not mean that I'll not understand. The simplicity of the solitary hunt dulls not the mind, though perhaps the...vocabulary. Speak your thoughts." _Natsume sighed. That wasn't what he'd meant; he didn't think he could put these thoughts into words understandable to _anyone._ He went ahead and tried anyway.

"Those people are...wanted. Even if I do hate them, and all other humans like them, they have...families. Places to go back to. People waiting to welcome them home. Even if they are all selfish and greedy and quick to look down on others, I-I don't want to cause the people around me trouble or sadness, just because of me. I don't-They've always belonged there...but I'm-I have-" Natsume fumbled, looking for the right words.

Fukuro interrupted by bopping Natsume sharply on the head with a talon-knuckle.

_"So foolish a reason to value another's existence over your own. What others choose to value...may not necessarily be of value. Surely _you, _at least, understand the sins of humanity...and society." _Fukuro leaned down, one amber eye suspended directly in front of Natsume._ "And yet you place so much value...in the opinions of others." _Fukuro sighed heavily._ "I value your existence over those...worthless children. Had you been eaten back then, even with one less detestable human in existence...the exorcist would still be there. I know not how long he plans to stay, and I might have starved back...into my natural state, and lived out my life as a simple-minded bird. Is the...worth I place in your life enough for you to _try_ to survive? To fight for yourself?"_

Natsume stared up at the bright amber eye, hanging like a lantern in the night. He had no idea how the conversation ended up this way (and neither does the author, quite frankly :P), but he felt...odd.

He wasn't sure if anything had changed, really. He still had no one and no place to go to. He'd still been lied to and tricked and cast aside and treated as nothing more than a burden. And he knew, he _knew,_ that this so-called 'worth' was only temporary. But the simple fact that someone, even a youkai, cared enough to tell him to take care of himself was enough to fully drag Natsume out of the apathy that had seized him for so long.

He opened his mouth to say something. The words 'I'm sorry' immediately jumped to his lips, just like they had with Seiji. But that wasn't right. That wasn't what he wanted to say to the one who finally told him that he wasn't completely, utterly alone.

"Thank you." Fukuro nodded. (At least, it looked like a nod. Its eyes bounced up and down, the only part of the owl Natsume could see.)

_"Can you walk...son of man?"_

Natsume tried. He really did. But his legs had stiffened, and they just wouldn't bend properly. When he finally got himself upright (with Fukuro watching all of this in silence), he found that his legs wouldn't _move_ properly either, and he fell over.

Before Natsume could try again, he sensed movement right above him. He looked up and saw those glowing eyes, alarmingly close. And then Fukuro's beak gently closed around Natsume's midriff and picked him up. Fukuro then proceeded to stuff Natsume into a small (small is also a relative term; small for a giant owl, but large enough for a pre-teen kid) fold near its wing joint. It snapped its wing shut, holding Natsume in place with a wall of feathers.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

_"I've very little inclination...to guard you all night, when I ought to be hunting elsewhere. Having just said that I would prefer you lived...I cannot leave you here. And you are not capable of leaving...on your own. So it is left to me to...return you to the humans. In the state you are in...I might eat you by accident if I carry you in my beak. So this is...the best way." _

Natsume was rather inclined to differ. The youkai gave off no body heat, so Natsume was fairly cold in his summer uniform. Feather shafts dug into his back, and the feathers themselves tickled. He wriggled and twisted, trying to find a comfortable position, until Fukuro warned him off.

_"Stop...twisting. My outer feathers are as much tools of the hunt as my beak and claws...though they look it not. Should you fall on them, you'd likely not survive unscathed...should you survive at all." _

_That _made Natsume stop. He sighed and gave up trying to get comfortable; he'd sit this out, just like he always did. The air trapped with him was still, and Fukuro could glide across the forest floor as easily and silently as it could fly. There was no noise, no movement, no disturbances, nothing to see. Natsume might as well have been alone. In a sense, he _was _still alone.

He shook again, his body demanding that he cry, his will refusing that command with all its strength. He couldn't stop the tears from escaping this time; he hyperventilated and shook with uncontrollable tremors and futilely tried to choke back his wails.

A half-remembered memory drifted to him. When he was little, he'd suffered a week of bad luck and little incidents. He didn't remember when this had been, or what exactly had happened (the incidents were as follows: finding out that the mud-drawing he'd wanted to show his dad had disappeared overnight, getting a flap of his skin caught in the sliding door he'd been trying to open, losing his favorite toy, being scared by a creepy-looking youkai who'd passed through their home, stubbing his toe, tripping and falling off the foot-high porch into the lawn, and seeing an inch-long bug crawl up his arm), but he remembered that he'd cried every single time. He grew fed up with crying and childishly resolved not to cry next time something happened. The next time, though, he'd gotten hurt (scratched on the arm by a stray cat he'd been trying to pet).

He'd tried not to cry the entire time his dad treated him, but the sobs had burst out just like they did now, uncontrollable. His dad had picked him up and hugged him and let Natsume cry himself out on his shoulder. Then his dad told him something; Natsume couldn't remember the exact words, but he remembered it was something about what would happen if you didn't let yourself cry when you needed to. He hadn't understood at the time, but he thought he understood a little better now. He was struggling so hard just to exert some control over himself.

And that almost-memory did it, dissolved any resistance left in Natsume. He gave in and let himself cry.

He'd been pushing a lot of limits today.

_"Even I...can have trouble resisting temptation, child. Try to calm yourself...your emotions." _The gentle rumble came from one of the walls Natsume was curled up against.

Natsume buried his face in the downy feathers and let them siphon off his tears. He closed his eyes. The words weren't much in the way of comfort, any more than the feathers much of a shoulder to cry on.

But Natsume was grateful for them all the same.

* * *

**A/N:** *-and exhale* (I showed this to someone else -*hemAlexhem*- for proofreading, and they had no idea where this breath was coming from. Go back and look at the upper A/N.)

There. That wasn't that bad, was it? *My little army of mindless bobble-heads all nod back* (Whether or not this means it actually was that bad or not, I've no clue.)

Like I said, not a lot happens in this one. But it should be okay...probably...

I am becoming ridiculously afraid of reader disapproval. Corrections, I am OK with, but anything else... ( T_T)

Anyways, I promise the pace will pick up again shortly! I just really wanted to write this part out. Or rather, this bunny-scene demanded its share louder than the others. All the others that were competing for this chapter are now sitting gloomily in a corner of my head, waiting to wither away...They will probably not be missed. Take that, you excessive bunnies! I only need one of you every few chapters! And only when I'm writing! No other time!

Ahem. Ranting aside, the next chapter will probably be the much-anticipated one that you reviewers have been sharing plot-bunnies about. (I swear, I did consider them. All your bunnies got an equal chance to out-shout the other bunnies scrambling around in my head.) So hopefully, all this human/not-human confusion will soon be cleared up~

As Seiji's not much of a slacker. Unlike me... T_T

I tried to make Fukuro's speech a little more old-fashioned sounding, because it's remembering how it used to have a proper conversation and it _is_...untold years old. I've no idea how long a normal youkai is supposed to live, but Fukuro has lived for centuries (I think).

The next chapter will probably take a while, unfortunately, as I want it to be a good one and I've got a lot of things to juggle right now.


	7. The fourth encounter: Part 1

**A/N: **Another one~

Yes, this one took a bit (just a _little _bit) longer than usual (and it's pretty short), but I feel entitled to that time considering that the last few chapters were updated really quickly. Plus, I have been bombarded with schoolwork lately (tests and projects and essays that I barely finish before getting another one T^T), so I've had much less time to write (and probably will continue to have less time to write). But I _have _been mentally working on this, so I've got plenty of storyline planned out and do not foresee writer's block anywhere in the near future. (Not that it'll be easy to write out some of the more difficult chapters, but that's just life.)

I was tempted (very much so) to do a more dramatic kidnapping scene (because in the NY-C fandom, Matoba equals kidnapping), but I decided against it (_must...resist...urge..._), as it would be a little..._forced_ to have Natsume just pass out and wake up at the Matoba's temporary residence. Plus, having Natsume know exactly where and in what conditions Seiji lives in would mess up a lot of pre-planned story bunnies who introduce all that stuff. (Does that even make sense? Pre-planned?) This chapter didn't want to be written as much as the other ones, though, so I might have forced it a little anyways.

I'm starting to give more details to everything, now that I'm doing more planning than writing. The Rakutos now have names~ They are now officially Arisa and Shimuzu Rakuto (for people who happen to be even more Japanese-culturally deficient than I, Arisa is the woman). I have absolutely no idea if Arisa would change her last name to Rakuto when she married Shimuzu, so I'll just call her Arisa in the few times that I mention her from here on out. (If anyone knows, you are free to tell me.) Also, the place where Natsume first met Seiji in the (terrible excuse of a) first chapter will probably just be referred to as 'the Shinto shrine', because that's apparently what it is.

I realized that I wanted to do this scene on a weekend, because then I wouldn't have to worry about how school time fit into this. (I'm...pretty sure Japanese elementary students also have weekends off, right?) Then I realized that I had no idea how many consecutive days of school I'd given Natsume so far. T_T So I went back and counted. It was six. He meets Seiji in a shrine, he gets a rest day, he is almost killed by Fukuro, he sees Fukuro after school and talks to it, he starts getting stalked by the owl, and he gets lost in a forest (a poor summary, but it'll do). So I had to go back and get rid of the rest day. Which I have done.

NY-C isn't normally a very day-to-day centered story, so I hadn't really thought about the progression of the days before this...

Anyways, all's well that ends well~

This chapter is dedicated to BendSpaghetti, who (-will probably never read this, but whatever-) wrote a very touching piece from Natsume's past called "Stray Dogs" that you all should read if you're interested in stuff like that :L It was very inspirational, particularly in regards to this piece.

* * *

Natsume sat on a stone ledge, slouched over dejectedly, lost in his thoughts. He replayed the last half a day over and over in his head. Fukuro had dropped him off at the doorstep of a very annoyed couple and disappeared somewhere. Arisa-san had glared at him disapprovingly all throughout dinner, and put him to bed as soon as he was done (he was left to clean the blood off and bandage his mow-healing wounds himself). Then he'd gone to sleep, and woken up early the next morning. He ate breakfast by himself while the Rakutos got ready for work, and was kicked out of the house for the day as soon as Shimuzu- and Arisa-san left for the day. (They'd left him alone last Saturday, but he'd made a huge mess of the kitchen in another youkai-caused incident).

So he'd walked to school (because that was what he was used to doing and he had nothing better to do). And then he'd gone to the old, empty Shinto shrine. And then he wandered the forest a little bit (there was much more undergrowth on this side of the river; civilization seemed to be centered on the other side. No, I have no idea where this could possibly be :P ), but quickly gave that up; he was well aware of how dangerous that could be. He also went back to the clearing where he'd threatened to pull out Fukuro's feathers if the bird didn't answer his questions.

It was only when he caught himself staring at the empty bench in disappointment that he realized what he was doing, what he was searching for.

_Pathetic. _Natsume didn't know where the thought had come from, but it rang true. He left the empty clearing without a backward glance. He'd always been alone before; he didn't need a youkai for company now. He knew Fukuro wouldn't (or was it couldn't?) be a permanent part of his life anyways, not when he was sure he would be moving again in a few weeks. It was stupid to get attached.

So he'd gone back to the empty house with the locked door and spent the rest of the morning sitting on the porch. He couldn't stop himself from wondering where the owl had gone, but firmly told himself that he didn't care (no, he really he _didn't._ He was just bored. Right. Just that). When noon rolled around, he'd gotten tired of sitting on a step and walked to a nearby park. (He was also getting kind of hungry, but he was used to that. He'd just have to put up with it for a few more hours.) Then he sat on the ledge he was currently sitting on, tired, lonely, restless, flipping through memories because he had nothing better to do.

Maybe if he'd been less bored or sleep-deprived, he would have noticed them sooner. As it was, he didn't even notice the park empty out as people went home for lunch.

* * *

Seiji blinked open his eyes. He got up and stretched, working out the kinks he'd acquired. Then he brushed the dirt off his pants (he was wearing normal clothes today, instead of the black garb he usually wore) and stamped his feet, trying to get some feeling in his legs. He was tired; setting up spells took a lot out of him, and he still had to get back to the house. He was greeted by one of his shiki as soon as he stepped out of the circle.

"Have you completed your search?" The shiki nodded. "Show me where he is, then." They walked a little, until they cleared to the trees and ended up in one of the public parks that had paths snaking through trees. The shiki directed him to a bench, on which lay the unconscious body of a child, guarded by two other shiki. Seiji stared at the familiar head of silver hair.

"Explain."

The three shiki gathered together and nodded as one. They then enacted a crude struggle, starting with two of the shiki jumping the third and ending with the third falling backwards and mimicking banging its head on something as it fell. Then, report done, all three stood and turned to face Seiji.

"No, no, no. When I tell you to find a _youkai, _you bring it to me. When I tell you to find a _human_, you report his location," Seiji snapped. All the shiki shrank back unanimously. "Get out of my sight." The shiki scattered, afraid of being punished (which Seiji was rather seriously considering).

Seiji turned away from the now-empty path and turned his attention to the boy on the bench. He sighed and checked the wound on the back of the boy's head. No blood, just bruises; the child should be fine in a day or so. He propped the child upright in a sitting position and sat down next to him, prepared to wait for the boy to wake up. Natsume slumped over until his head rested on Seiji's arm; Seiji let him be.

Since Natsume was already here, he might as well take this opportunity to clear things up.

* * *

When Natsume dragged open his eyes, the first thing he noticed was that his head was throbbing in time with his heartbeat. He groaned softly and tried to get his bearings. He could see the sky...he was outside. He was leaning on something, and he was sitting on...a bench? He struggled to sit up properly, feeling woozy. Strong hands helped push him up.

"You woke up surprisingly quickly." Natsume froze at the sound of that voice, automatically twisting out of the grip of those hands. His eyes flickered up of their own accord. Seiji stared back at him impassively.

"I apologize for the behavior of my servants. They're still in training." (Matoba always, ALWAYS uses that excuse in the manga. I kinda wanted it to be legitimite for once; it always seems like he could be lying when he says that...) Natsume inched back along the bench, away from the older boy. "You should take it easy for a bit, Natsume-kun. You hit your head pretty hard." Memories snapped into place as Natsume remembered exactly how he'd passed out. He jumped to his feet, swaying a little, and turned to run.

Seiji casually stuck out a foot and tripped him. Natsume hit the ground hard, arms just a little too late to break the fall.

"You're rather predictable, you know." Natsume, struggling to get up, flinched in surprise; Seiji's voice was alarmingly close. Seiji bent down and set Natsume on his feet, fingers tightly gripping his wrist. "You never hold your own against anything, especially youkai. You just run. You should try to be more confident in your abilities; you're pretty powerful. It's not an easy feat to take out one of my shiki." Natsume wriggled his arm, trying to get free. "Stop that, Natsume-kun. I just want to talk." Seiji held his wrist firmly and grabbed Natsume's shoulder with his other hand, shaking the boy a little. Natsume stopped trying to get free for a second; the whole world was spinning and Natsume felt sick. Seiji had said something about hitting his head...

"Let go!" Natsume twisted his arm weakly; his head was throbbing, he felt dizzy, and he was only standing because he was clutching Seiji's arm for support. He stepped away from the older boy, trying to put some distance between them even though he was only standing thanks to Seiji's support.

"I said that I just wanted to talk, Natsume-kun. I'm not going to hurt you."

"You mean any more than you already have?" Natsume spat. He slammed his fist into Seiji's arm and yanked back. Seiji lost his grip on Natsume's arm, more because of surprise than pain; the sudden spike of energy that accompanied the otherwise harmless blow shocked him. Natsume pulled away and tried to run again, but he didn't get far. He only managed a few steps before he stumbled and dropped to his knees, one hand on the ground, the other supporting his head. He felt nauseous, he felt dizzy, and he felt weak... He couldn't stand even if he wanted to, and he was dangerously close to passing out again.

He heard hurried footsteps, somewhere far away. They took a long time to reach him...

"Are you okay, little boy?" He flinched away from the arm that reached out. Wait, that wasn't Seiji's voice...

Natsume blinked and tilted his head up to look at the kindly older woman, who was looking down at him with concern.

"He'll be fine. He just has anemia." Seiji had come up behind him again...Natsume hadn't even heard him...

"Are you sure? Anemia can be pretty serious, can't it?" The woman fretted and gave him a worried look. Natsume recognized that look...

Huh? Wait, _what?_

"I'm fine. Thank you for your concern." The words slipped out on their own, automatic, a response to that all-too familiar gaze of mingled suspicion and kindness. He shouldn't get this person involved in his youkai problems...

"If you say so, little boy..." Giving him one last, uncertain glance, she turned and continued her stroll down the tree-lined path.

"Can you stand, Natsume-kun?"

"She could see you."

Natsume was...confused. (Which _would_ be putting it mildly under normal circumstances, but the dizziness wasn't helping his thinking processes.) Seiji sighed, took the boy's answer for a '_no'_, and roughly tugged Natsume to his feet. He led the boy back to the bench, Natsume dragging on his arm for support and balance the whole time (about five steps total :b).

"You hand is warm. It isn't cold." The observation was stated with a curiously flat tone. Natsume, after collapsing on the bench, stared at Seiji as though seeing him for the first time. Seiji, wearing normal clothes and no longer toting about an umbrella, looked like a normal high schooler with black hair and red eyes.

Seiji, for his part, sat down on the bench next to Natsume and watched the child's eyes go strangely blank.

"You're not human." This wasn't directed at Seiji; Natsume himself seemed to be trying to reconcile this fact with what he was seeing in front of him. Seiji sighed.

"Yes, I am. I said this before, didn't I? You keep running off before I get a chance to explain."

"The other children couldn't see you. Oh! Was that lady just now an akayashi?"

"No, she was _not._ The other little kids from before couldn't see me because had spell set up to keep normal humans from bothering me."

"There aren't spells like that..." _I think. _(This is Natsume.)

"Yes, there are. I really am human, Natsume-kun." _Why won't he believe me?_ (And this is Seiji.)

"Prove it." A stubborn frown creased Natsume's face as the child glared challengingly at Seiji.

"Proof...Let's see..." Seiji took a moment to make sure his remembered enough of the information. "Natsume Takashi. Your birthday is the first of July, and you're nine years old now. Your parents died when you were four. Since then, you've been passed around between your late father's relatives. You were never in one place for very long; your behavior frightened other people. You've been hospitalized at least four times now, all for supposedly self-caused injuries. Your maternal grandmother is Natsume Reiko, who's quite famou-"

"How do you know this?" Natsume interrupted. His voice was quiet, hushed with fear.

"I asked some people to investigate your background after we met in that Shinto shrine." Just one person, actually. (He'd asked Nanase to confirm if Takashi was human, and the megaworkaholic had come up with a birth certificate, two death certificates, records of school enrollment, a few sightings of the boy by various youkai and a few humans, and a handful of interesting tidbits of information. All within the course of a few days; he now owed Nanase a huge favor...) "You interest me; people who can _see_ are rare. And you're quite powerful, especially considering your age."

Natsume paused to consider this. That Seiji knew all this disturbed him (a lot. Natsume almost felt like he had a stalker), but...

"This doesn't prove you're human," Natsume insisted. Seiji raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? And why not? Unless you've told all this to youkai at some point -which seems unlikely, considering that most youkai aren't interested in irrelevant human troubles or circumstances- then the most likely way I got this information is through human means."

"Maybe you...you looked into my memories, or something." Natsume frowned, trying to find a way to make it all fit. It wasn't that he didn't _want _to believe Seiji (he wanted it so badly it was dangerous), but he had already faced that disappointment once. He wasn't going to allow himself to accept hope nearly as easily again.

"Hmm...Well, I suppose that's not impossible. There are youkai capable of-" Seiji bit off the end of his sentence abruptly. A group of teenagers, talking and laughing, rounded a curve in the path and came into view.

"This isn't an appropriate place to have this conversation," Seiji murmured quietly. "We'll look suspicious if we just sit here. You can probably walk now."

"Eh? No, I- mph?!" Something -paper, it felt like- had sealed itself over his mouth. Natsume put his hand to his face to try to peel it off, but it was stuck firmly in place; he could barely tell where his skin ended and the paper began.

"Come on. Let's go somewhere else." Seiji stood and gripped Natsume's wrist, pulling the child to a standing position. "If you try to struggle or run, you'll just involve anyone who sees you," Seiji hissed quietly. Seiji had noticed a while ago how martyr-like the boy tended to be; his suspicions were confirmed when Natsume made an alarmed, half-pleading sound through his nose, shot a glance at the approaching group of people, and made no attempt to resist being pulled to his feet.

Seiji led the way down the path to the more populated areas, casually passing the noisy teens and dragging a very, very confused little boy along with him.

* * *

**A/N:** I sort of abandoned the idea of a perspective somewhere towards the middle, but I guess it works out...sort of...

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed that. I tried. I really did.

I was really, really uncertain about this chapter, because there were just TOO. MANY. BUNNIES. They were all stopping the development of a proper, solid sequence of events because they wanted to barge into the plot somehow. I was actually sort of intending to start this with Natsume accidentally stepping into one of Seiji's alarm-spell-thingies and knocking himself out because the spiritual shock was too much for him...or something... But yeah, this is how it all turned out. I hope you all enjoyed it anyways.

I've sorta decided on an age for Natsume; he's now nine, which would make Matoba about sixteen. I'm gonna bump it up to seventeen, just because sixteen seems a little young for what I have in mind.

The next chapter: In which Matoba finds out exactly much he underestimated the task of convincing a boy in denial.

(It will take a good while to get the next one out, unfortunately, but I AM working on it).


	8. The fourth encounter: Part 2

**A/N: **Okay, this is a scene I've had at the back of my head for a while now. There weren't too many ideas being tossed around for once *inwardly rejoices at the _lack _of loudly arguing bunnies* so things were pretty clear-cut. However, it also means that my motivation to write was at an all-time low...so, sorry.

In regards to any Natsume-Matoba interaction, I think I have regained the proper use of perspective...sometimes. Here and there. Meh. Their conversation was a little hard to write, though. Unlike previous conversations, I didn't really have a list of 'to-talk-about' topics in mind. So there was no real direction I was trying to swing this, besides the vague goal of "convince Natsume that Seiji could be human".

Again, there's a lot of character interpretation here. I think little Natsume might be a _little_ bit bitter for his age, considering that he seems more lonely/empty in his earlier years (the bitterness seems to be more in his double-digit years), but that's just how it turned out... Besides, I think me trying to write Natsume as nothing more than sad/empty is not going to work out so well that it won't get old after a while.

I'm also afraid of Seiji becoming too canon-Natori-like (as in, Natori-before-he-meets-Natsume-and-gets-nicer), but I don't really know what I can do about that.

I might be overusing benches a little. I've no clue how common random benches are on a public street, but I sprout one for my own convenience a lot of the time...well, whatever.

I explore a little more of the inner workings of the Matoba in this chapter! (And Nanase shows up too!) I hope you all enjoy this~ And I'm sorry it took so very long. (Blame all the tests and essays and the like.)

This chapter is dedicated to Suspicious Crow, who has reviewed a lot of my chapters and has not had a much-deserved dedication yet. Thank you for reading, Crow~ Your reviews are very encouraging!

* * *

Natsume let Seiji pull him along, trying to figure out how he ended up in this situation.

He'd watched the teens bunch up to one side of the road to make room for Seiji when he passed. Natsume trailed behind him, pulled along by his arm, and carefully turned his head to hide the paper on his face.

He stopped dead in his tracks as they rounded a bend in the path. He could see the clear expanse of the park and, beyond that, a relatively populated street. It didn't matter whether or not Seiji was visible to others; walking around with a piece of paper plastered over his mouth would draw unwanted attention in a populated area. He pulled back when Seiji tried to urge him forward, digging his heels into the ground. When Seiji turned to look at him, he made a muffled, demanding sound and pointed at the paper across his mouth.

Seiji stared at him uncomprehendingly for a second, before realizing what Natsume meant. "Don't worry; normal people can't see that paper." Turning away, Seiji pulled him across the field. "It's nothing more than a precaution, anyway. Don't let it bother you."

...How was he supposed to respond to that?

* * *

Seiji led Natsume down the street, heading towards the more populated area of town, where the shops and restaurants were located. Natsume trotted a little to keep up with Seiji's longer strides. He was bubbling with questions, foremost of which was '_where are we going?_' But he was pretty sure Seiji wasn't going to take the paper off, and he had no idea how he'd get that question across with his mouth sealed. He wriggled his fingers experimentally, wondering if he could work them free of Seiji's grip and make a run for it. Seiji glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and squeezed the boy's fingers twice; both a silent warning and order.

Then he paused and looked around, examining the stores nearby. "Are you hungry, Natsume-kun?"

Natsume blinked and looked up, confusion mingling with surprise. He considered the question.

He _was _hungry, but...Natsume shook his head, his gaze sliding away from Seiji. He just wanted to know what Seiji wanted so he could leave.

Had Natsume been looking, he would've seen the perceptive, almost-amused look Seiji directed at him.

"Then humor me. I haven't had lunch yet." He turned and led Natsume across the street and entered a small convenience store. Natsume watched, bemused, as Seiji browsed through the shelves and settled on a bento and two prepackaged onigiri. Seiji managed to take everything to the front desk and pay for it without loosening his grip on Natsume's hand. One hand holding Natsume's, the other holding a small shopping bag, Seiji led Natsume to a fairly empty street and sat down on the nearest bench. Natsume sat too, his initial alarm mostly gone, replaced by cautious curiosity.

"Here." Seiji held out one of the onigiri.

"Eh? Ah, no thank yo-" The customary refusal was half out before Natsume realized he could talk again. Natsume touched his face, registering the disappearance of the paper a fraction of a second before he saw Seiji tuck something into his pocket. Seiji continued speaking as if Natsume had completed his refusal.

"I already bought it. Just take it. You haven't eaten yet, have you?" Though he phrased as a question, Seiji spoke with a confidence that implied that he already knew its answer. Natsume took it hesitantly and placed it on his lap. He made no move to unwrap it, waiting for Seiji to start eating. Seiji took note of this and opened the bento. He could feel Natsume's gaze on him, but he feigned unconcern as he took a bite of rice. Natsume watched the older boy eat with quick, efficient bites.

"Do you eat human food often, Seiji-san?"

Seiji paused, swallowed, and shot Natsume a glance that was half amused, half exasperated. He kept his tone light as he replied, "I have to eat as much as any other human, Natsume-kun. Speaking of eating, you should eat that." Seiji gestured at the untouched parcel of food on the boy's lap. Natsume looked at it uncertainly and picked it up, internally debating if this was okay. He unwrapped it hesitantly, almost guiltily, like a child doing something wrong.

"Thanks for the meal," he whispered quietly, almost to himself. (I meant to put that phrase that Japanese people say when they're about to eat or entering/leaving the house, but I can't for the life of me remember what it is. And I'd probably spell it wrong anyways.) As he took a small bite, he mumbled, "You didn't have to buy this for me." Seiji didn't bother answering; he just continued eating. Natsume swallowed his first bite, looking up as something occurred to him.

"Seiji-san, where do you get the money for this?" Natsume waved vaguely at the lonely onigiri sitting in the shopping bag Seiji had set between them.

"I'm an exorcist, like you asked last time we met. There are many people who pay for exorcisms." _Obviously. _

Natsume blinked, as if the thought hadn't occurred to him.

"People who...ask for an exorcism? Do they all believe in spirits?" Though he said it politely, there was an underlying tone of incredulity to the question. "In all the places I've been to, I've never met a single person who believed in spirits. Definitely not another _human _who could see them."

Seiji took another bite and chewed thoughtfully. _So that's the source of all this skepticism. _

"Do you know of a youkai that can show itself to humans?"

"...No."

"So you believe in something you've never encountered, like a youkai that can show itself to humans, but you won't even consider the possibility that there are other humans who can _see, _like you?" Seiji decided not to shoot himself in the foot by mentioning that there _were_ some youkai who could show themselves, or make their voices heard.

Natsume frowned, trying to come up with an answer. "...There are stories of gods showing themselves to people..." Seiji raised an eyebrow, gaze boring into Natsume's. The child flushed and looked away; it was a weak argument, and they both knew it.

"Is it so hard to accept that you're not the only one who's special?" For a brief moment, Seiji wondered if the child _wanted _to be the only who could see youkai, if the child wanted to be different from normal people. There were many exorcists who prided themselves on their power... (People like Seiji himself in later years.)

Natsume nibbled on his food thoughtfully. He tipped his head to one side, a little uncertain. He opened his mouth to answer...and snapped it closed.

Suddenly he smiled; the bitter, rueful smile of an adult who'd stumbled across something ironic, reproduced on a child's face.

"Two days before today, I would have been able to tell you honestly that I don't -that I _can't-_ hope for the possibility that there was another person like me. That I wasn't the only one who was..._special_." There was a heavy emphasis on the last word.

_There have been...and still are...many humans who can see. That you can as well is not...nearly as unique as you would think..._

"Two days ago. But now?"

"Now...I don't know." Natsume frowned, looked away, and appeared occupied with eating. Seiji waited for a second. When he got no other response, he asked something that had been bothering him.

"You've never questioned that I'm an exorcist, though you've made it clear than you don't believe I'm a human. Why do you assume that there are youkai exorcists? I've never heard of such a thing."

"It was Fukuro-san who told me that there are some youkai who act as exorcists, and he has no reason to lie to me. But he didn't say-"

"Fukuro? Ah. You mean the bird. You know its name?"

"I just overheard the name." Natsume muttered, a little dismissively. "But, it never answered when I asked if you were human..." Natsume trailed off, looking away from Seiji and finishing the last of his onigiri. Seiji blinked once. _So that's why he spoke to it..._

"You really are interesting." Seiji took another bite of food, wondering how Natsume managed to have a conversation with such an obviously-hostile spirit. "Though if you wanted to know something so simple, you probably could have asked any youkai in the area if there was a human exorcist around."

"I guess I could have..." The answer came unwillingly, dragged out by years of ingrained politeness. Natsume's eyes grew distant as he remembered _why _he couldn't just walk up to any youkai nearby and ask (because there weren't any nearby anymore...). Seiji watched the distance grow in Natsume's eyes and wondered what the child wasn't telling him.

"What are you thinking about?"

Natsume started and replied, a little too quickly, "Nothing." Seiji stared at the child, eyes narrowed. Natsume fidgeted and looked away, uncomfortable under Seiji's penetrating gaze.

"Seiji-san-" Natsume, about to ask if he could leave now, abruptly changed his question. "Can I ask you something?"

("You just did." For some reason, I really wanted Seiji to say that, even if it IS ridiculously OOC.)

"You can _ask,_" Seiji assented, though made no promise to answer the question. Natsume nodded quietly.

"Is Seiji your real name?"

Seiji looked at Natsume, eyes unreadable. He considered the boy sitting next to him. "Why do you ask?"

"I just wanted to know. 'Seiji' by itself isn't a-" Natsume stopped himself. _Seiji by itself isn't a human name. _"I just wanted to know," he repeated.

"Yes, Seiji is my name. Matoba Seiji." Seiji thought about telling the child not to go around mentioning that name to the youkai, but then he figured that it wouldn't matter. In fact, it might be worse to draw attention to the fact that he didn't want his name spread around the area; besides, they (as in, the Matoba Clan) weren't staying around for too much longer.

Natsume blinked once, and then nodded. "Then, Matoba-san," he murmured quietly. "May I lea-"

The child froze, staring at something over his shoulder with a mixture of fear and uncertainty. Seiji calmly turned to look, and saw one of his shiki standing behind him. Seeing that it had Seiji's attention, it bowed and put its hands together, fingers forming a crude triangle with pillars. The sign for 'house'.

(And here I will include an extraneous little description of exactly how the shiki made the symbol: its thumbs were tucked into its palm, the first two fingers extended at an angle a touching each other to make a 'triangle', or a roof. The pinky and the ring finger were pressed together and pointed down, making two 'pillars' or walls or something.)

"My presence is needed?" The shiki nodded. "Is it urgent?" In response, the shiki placed an inky black finger on its mask. It drew a picture, the finger leaving a dark, black trail on the white mask, of an arrow above a ying-yang symbol. The black marks remained for a second, before fading into the whiteness of the mask and leaving it as pristine as it used to be.

_Nanase-san. _Seiji frowned.

"Well then. I suppose it's time I left." Seiji turned to Natsume, smiling politely. "Thank you for your time."

"Eh? No, it was nothing..." Natsume frowned, puzzled. Seiji stood up, picking up his empty bento box.

"You can keep the other one," Seiji said, waving at the onigiri still in the shopping bag. Natsume blinked back, surprised and confused, and moved the bag onto his lap. He stared at it, thinking hard.

"Sei- no, Matoba-san," Natsume corrected, "What...what did you want?"

Seiji looked at the little boy, eyes brimming with amusement. He turned and waved goodbye over his shoulder, walking away.

"Like I said, I just wanted to talk."

* * *

"Nanase-san."

"Matoba-kun."

"How have you been?"

"I've been well. And you?"

After they exchanged the customary polite pleasantries, Nanase got down to business.

"Matoba-kun, I heard something very interesting. A few of your shiki had their masks broken. Care to tell me how it happened?"

That elicited a polite smile from Seiji, tinged with the resignation of someone who'd lost a game. "Only if you would be so kind as to share where you heard that from."

"Come now. That's your job to figure out, isn't it?"

Seiji's smile grew thirty degrees colder. "You were doing field work when this outing was planned, weren't you? The only servants I brought are a few human, sightless ones and my own shiki." The polite smile turned bitter. "So who told you? I doubt it was Renka-san. Matoba-chan might do it just to spite me, except she hates you even more than she does me. And even then, she'd have a hard time finding out. So who's your little spy? One of the local youkai?"

"Haha. None of the above, I'm afraid." The laugh was humorless, as serious as the rest of the atmosphere. "Well, you've spent enough time avoiding my question. How were your servants hurt?"

"...I've little obligation to tell you that."

"I see. I'm sorry to hear that. By the way, I found something interesting about the boy you asked me to investigate."

Seiji kept his face carefully neutral as he asked,"...Natsume Takashi-kun?"

"Yes. Apparently, that boy lives somewhere not too far from here. Did you know that?"

"...No. Thank you for informing me. Was that all you came to speak about?"

"Almost. I just have one more thing to remind you of. You are part of the Matoba clan; you should act in the clan's best interests." She stepped around Seiji and walked to the door. Over her shoulder, she smiled politely and said, "If you meet that boy we spoke of, would you give him my regards?"

Lightly, Seiji replied, "And if I do, will the favor I owe you be repaid?" (This refers to the favor Matoba owes Nanase for finding all that stuff on Natsume.)

"Of course not. After all, it shouldn't take a favor for you to what's best for your clan." Pausing, Nanase added, "And you need to work on your poker face, Matoba-kun." She slid the door shut behind her and walked down the hall. Seiji listened to her footsteps grow steadily fainter.

"That nag's an extortionist," Seiji complained, part annoyance and part grudging admiration.

_What's best for the clan, huh?_

* * *

**A/N:** This might be a little anticlimactic, as there is no place you can point and say, "Aha! That's where it's all cleared up!" Unfortunately, all those tense, climactic scenes that tend to accompany Matoba-related-stuff are not really my thing, so I had to stick in a 'relaxing' factor somehow. Which, in this case, would probably be Seiji treating Natsume to lunch, as it's not a completely necessary action, but still serves to keep things calmer.

Which reminds me, I hit the _stupidest _little snag while writing this. I couldn't figure out where Matoba would take Natsume for lunch. RAWR. My own ignorance frustrates me. So another thank-you to Harunekonya for helping me out with that. But! I'm not completely hopeless (I think.) Bentos are boxed lunches, and they pop up a few times in the canon. Onigiri are...balls of rice with edible things in the middle (usually pickled plum or something), I think. (There are mentions of them in Xxxholic, Fruits Basket, and one obscure mention of pre-packed onigiri in Skip Beat! I know there are more, but I'm not going to list them.)

As for the symbol the shiki drew, I did that in order to figure out a communication system for shiki who can't talk/write and humans. So clans have their own symbols~ The Matoba's is a bow and arrow (which means that a servant of the Matoba's is just an arrow), and sometimes, drawn under the clan-symbol is a sign unique to each member of the clan. I chose ying-yang for Nanase because of one of the episodes in the anime (but not in the manga) where she gets stuck in the bottom of a well with Nyanko (I can't remember which episode it is, too lazy to look it up :L). I kept thinking how all those sealing-stone-things looked like half a ying-yang symbol. For anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, it doesn't really matter; just know that any other time I choose to use this method of message-bearing, a ying-yang under an arrow means the message is from or related to Nanase. (On a slightly random side note, the Natori clan's symbol is a string of paper-doll-shaped figurines ;P Make of that what you will.)

I've now alluded at another OC character, besides Renka. "Matoba-chan" is a real character (real in my head I mean, not in the canon) and she will probably make an appearance at about the same chapter Renka does. I haven't decided on a first name for her yet, so I am open to suggestions~ (Suggestions would be very helpful; I keep thinking Yuki, Tsukimiya, Yuko, Kyoko, Ayumi, Eri, Izumi, Yuri...etc, etc, etc. The list goes on and on.)

I figured I'd do a little clarifying here. I don't know how relations would normally be between someone like Nanase (who serves as an almost-secretary for the current Head) and Seiji (who is technically a family member of the one she works for), but Seiji is actually NOT the heir (or whatever-the-title-is-for-the-next-head) of the Matoba clan in this fic. He's going to be the next pseudo-secretary, the one after Nanase (for the yet-to-be-introduced character who actually is the heir), which basically means that he's learning all the tricks of the trade from her (kind of like her apprentice, I guess). I hope this helps their conversation make more sense...Though I have absolutely no idea how realistic this situation would be. But who cares~ fanfic doesn't have to be realistic. (At least, that's what I keep telling myself.)

Thank you for reading~ I _think _Fukuro will be in the next chapter, and I'll start a whole other issue for Natsume (a human-vs.-youkai issue, kind of like the canon often has). Any more details would be spoilers ;b


	9. For your own good

**A/N: **And I'm back! I'm very sorry for suddenly dying on you all for so long. But I have a(-n excuse) reason for that. Sort of.

It was because I (-did something completely, utterly _stupid _as a plot-bunny-plagued fanfic writer-) went and stuck my head into another fandom. *Cowers under PC table* I'm sorry!

I thought I had dropped that series a long time ago. But I was bored. And D. Gray-man happens to have a LOT of long, complicated stories, which I essentially live off of (as in, my essence or something would die if I didn't get enough of them). Though I think that fandom manages to top NY-C for guy/guy themes...which is an accomplishment in and of itself :P So anyways, I spent a few days (no, it really was just a few consecutive blocks of 24 hours, interrupted by about two~three hours of unconsciousness each) completely obsessed with that and sadly neglecting this piece. Then I got a few more reviews, favorites, and follows, which made me feel kinda guilty about not working on this... So I spent another two weeks or so slowly reorienting myself in the Yuujincho fandom, forcibly dragging the bunnies away from the other random thoughts swirling in my head (not a single one of which was school...) and back on track (which has, interestingly enough, led to the birth of a currently-plotless crossover that I may or may not write out. If I do, it will be only after I finish this piece...and after I figure out a plot :P). I went back, rewatched almost all the anime episodes, reread all the manga, and flipped through a few of the really good fanfics in this fandom. (Needless to say, sleep has become something of a put-off-until-I-really-have-to necessity.)

So this chapter is dually dedicated to Adeptitachipoker, who has a great collection of drabbles on this site called "The Unearthly and the Human", and Mr. Moop, who also has a fairly well written Matoba fic called "Dust and Gold" (and its sequel, "Kings and Thieves"), both of who have recently and unexpectedly updated, which in turn has been a great help in getting me out of my slump.

As you may or may not have noticed, my pen name has changed. I am going to pass this story to 'Alex', who is usually my editor-and-biggest-critic. This doesn't really have too much effect this chapter, because I started this one and was half way done before I decided that I wanted him to take over completely (he usually helps with most of Fukuro's dialogue and throws in the occasional big SAT word when he feels like it). He insists that I finish this one before he officially takes over, though, so this chapter is mostly mine. He helped write a few bits, but this is more of a transition chapter than anything. Anyways, this change will have absolutely no effect on the actual storyline, because plot bunnies are genderless (but still manage to breed and spawn more bunnies...). The writing will just have a different vibe or style to it (hopefully; it'd be a little weird if we had the same writing style). This switch is something I choose to do on a completely random whim (and because I'm getting tired of writing and reviewing as a girl), and you can all pretty much ignore this if you want to ^_^ as this is just my way of screwing with stereotypes (and giving more character to the opposing voices in my head, which..._probably_ isn't healthy, but whatever. No, I'm not crazy. At least, not any more than you are ;L).

I think things will slow down a little in the next few chapters or so, as they will be full of more suspicions and relationship-improving than things actually happening (a lot like the canon is, actually). I'm not too sure how long I intend to drag _this_ situation out, but I could probably end it any time I chose. It'll depend on reader response, kinda like the issue of Seiji-being-human did, but I hope to cut it short soon (I'm as anxious to move on as you are~). The bunnies aren't annoying me (at least, not any more than I normally deal with on a daily basis, as a lot of the bunny population has thrown itself into other things), so I can afford to be a little choosey with this.

* * *

The next day, Shimuzu Rakuto took Natsume along on his errands, under the pretense of showing the child around town. The gesture was more out of obligation than any real desire to spend time with the child; Natsume came from his side of the family, after all. Sunday was his one day off, and he was content to spend it "working"; visiting the bank, shopping for groceries, keeping up with neighbors and acquaintances, and pointing out some local areas of interest to keep up the charade of giving the child a tour.

The boy was polite, but coldly so and mostly uninterested. He seemed, to Shimuzu's eyes, like he didn't want to be there; he was distant and easily distracted, only responding when Shimuzu prompted him to look at something or asked the boy for his opinion (which, admittedly, didn't happen as often as it could have). The one time the child showed any interest at all was when he mentioned the small shrine set at the top of a hill; a tiny patch of grass in the middle of the suburban town.

_What a weird kid..._

"Morning, Rakuto-san!"

He turned and spotted a co-worker of his, coming out of the store next to them and waving cheerfully. She walked towards them with brisk, upbeat strides, purse slung over her shoulder. He returned the greeting, self-consciously stepping forward to draw attention from the preoccupied little boy beside him. "Mayori-san. Out shopping?"

"Just window shopping, mostly. We don't get many days to relax, after all." She smiled politely at him, then leaned around him a little to peer curiously at the boy behind him. "Is this your son? I didn't know you had any children."

Shimuzu shook his head. "No, this is Natsume Takashi-kun, a relative who's freeloading at my place for a while."

Mayori beamed at them both. "Really? That's nice of you. I always wanted a kid, though I'd never have time to take care of one properly." Shimuzu fidgeted a little uncomfortably, although he tried not to show it. He spoke up before Mayori could start trying to talk to silent child.

"Actually, Arisa's not too happy about having a relative living with us; like you, we really don't have the time to take care of a child properly." _Not to mention the problems with the child in question. _"I'm talking to my other relations, looking for someone else who can take him for a while." He shot a glance at the preoccupied boy. The child wasn't paying them any mind. In fact, he was staring intently at the empty sidewalk across the street. His eyes looked...strangely glassy.

Suddenly, the boy jumped. Looking panicked, Natsume turned to them, bowed hurriedly, and said, "I'm sorry, I forgot something. I'll go back to the house soon, I've just got to do something first." Setting down the groceries that he'd been carrying, the boy turned and practically fled down the street. Both adults watched him go, stunned into silence. Natsume had dashed around a corner and out of sight before Shimuzu recovered enough to speak.

"Hey, wait! What did you- ah, never mind..." he trailed off. He sighed, mostly to himself.

"What a weird kid," Mayori commented, shooting Shimuzu an uncertain glance.

"Huh. I was just thinking the same thing."

* * *

Natsume turned another corner, shooting a quick look behind him. The youkai was gaining on him. His eyes darted around the street, looking for a place to hide. It was hard to lose youkai in cities; there were more people, and the streets were all straight and open.

"YOOUUUUU...WHYYY DIIDDD YOOOUUUU..."

Natsume ran down the streets as quickly as he could. He was lucky they were mostly empty; there weren't as many people to ask any awkward questions or wonder why he was rushing along in such a hurry. He was slowing down. He tried not to, but he was running out of steam. He stole another glance behind him; the wispy, brown-gray _thing _was still following him, flowing above the ground like a river in midair. It seemed to be getting tired too...or maybe that was just his imagination.

"WHAAT DDIDD HEEE DOOO TOOO..."

He and his youkai pursuer were headed in the direction of the Rakutos' house, but he wasn't sure what he was going to do if he couldn't shake off this persistent youkai before he got there. The best case scenario would be that it simply gave up, which was starting to seem more likely as the youkai fell further and further behind.

" ...TOOO DEESERRRRVVVE..."

He made it to the street the house was on. He paused for a quick second to catch his breath, resting his palms on his knees and panting hard. He didn't see the stubborn wisp anywhere. It looked like it had finally lost interest. Natsume let out a sigh of relief and turned to the house.

"Whyyy...wassss hhee...?"

Natsume shrieked and jumped back; the youkai had circled around, floating in front of him. Before he could run off again, the misty youkai wrapped itself around Natsume. Like sheets of leaden gossamer, it clung to his head and shoulders. Natsume sank to his knees, struggling to stay upright; despite its appearance, it was _heavy, _and the cloudy billows were choking him...

The echoing, hollow voice boomed right next to his ear, ringing yet airy. "...killlleeed?"

Natsume struggled, trying to move under the burden of the surprisingly heavy spirit. He couldn't see, couldn't breathe, couldn't hear anything except for that windy, insubstantial voice. He felt...almost numb...

Unfamiliar images assaulted him, forcing their way into his mindscape.

_Faces he'd never seen, in a part of the forest he'd never been. Smiles. Laughter. Idle conversations. Home. _

_Human festivals. Hiding from silent wings. Sake and foxfire... a party. A small one. Silver moonlight. Cloud gazing. A tree lined , fractured off the surface of...a river? Petals and leaves in the wind. Sunlight on the snow. Huddling in the rain. The turning of seasons..._

_Curiosity. A scent and a starlit path. _

_Screams. Pain. Fear. Silent shadows and bright amber eyes. Running. Hiding._

_A blood-red dawn. Searching..._

_Regret. __Loneliness. __One silhouette, where there had once been two._

(That bit was all Alex. Anyone get what happened? :P)

All at once, his senses rushed back to him. He found himself on his hands and knees, gasping for breath, blinking the spots from his eyes. As soon as he regained some feeling in his limbs, he sat up. He craned his head back to look at the too-large bird that had saved him yet again.

"Thancyu," he mumbled, not quite coherently. (He was trying to say 'thank you'.) He pushed himself up to a standing position, using a nearby garden fence for support. He tipped his head back to look up at the bird, which still looked just as oversized as it had when he'd been on the ground.

"You...grew even bigger?" The bird nodded, watching him slowly get a grip on himself. Natsume really shouldn't have been surprised, all things considered, but it was still mind-boggling to see something grow so _quickly._

_"Today...you did not go to the other human building. Why? I had...trouble finding you..." _The bird sounded a little annoyed.

"There's no school today. There wasn't any yesterday either," Natsume answered. He frowned. "Where were you yesterday, Fukuro-san? I couldn't find you."

_"Sleeping. It is best to sleep...after such a hunt...Though it looks as if you won't be here when I awaken, should I slumber too long." _

Natsume blinked at that. "What? I won't...oh. You mean the other youkai?"_ Or the fact that I'm moving soon? _The thought made him sigh, resignation coloring his stance. He leaned against the fence posts, exhaustion catching up with him as his adrenaline levels crept back to normal. He cast his gaze on the empty, familiar-yet-not-quite-so street. "What did that one want, anyways...?" he murmured softly, mostly to himself.

Fukuro cocked its head to one side, looking like it was trying to remember something.

_"It seems...I have eaten one of its companions. It heard the rumors...and blamed you. It sought...revenge...or perhaps an explanation. It did not know which would have satisfied...so I do not know."_ Natsume blinked. He hadn't really expected an answer to his question. _"It appears my hunting has had more...consequences than I originally thought." _

Natsume didn't notice how troubled the bird looked. "How...how do you know what it wanted?"

Fukuro sighed, idly wondering if the boy ever ran out of questions. _"Youkai that have no physical form...there is little value in our dead bodies. I grow by feeding off their powers...memories...essences. They are not completely dead when I make them a part me...just in enough pain to cripple them. So naturally, I make their thoughts mine. Though the memories are more ideas and emotions than worded thoughts...like remembering another's dream, perhaps." _Fukuro blinked at him...owlishly. (There was no other word for it.) _"You know at least that much, do you not?"_

Images replayed themselves, images that Natsume was suddenly able to make a little more sense of. "Y-yes..." Natsume digested this disturbing information. "But...Fukuro-san..." He didn't know what he should say to convey his uncomfortable feeling of _wrong_ to the evidently cold-hearted bird. He struggled to find words, any words. "You...if you...you understand...then why...?"

Fukuro seemed to get the message. _"Greed does not cloud my judgment. It is...not an impulse that I normally choose to indulge. After all, I merely seek to survive as myself...nothing more. It is not my sole intent to cause pain...and I only hunt when necessary. After all, it is not particularly pleasant...taking the thoughts of a being in such pain...into yourself. Right now, however...I need as much as I can hunt before I go."_

Natsume processed this, still trying to figure out if that was right or wrong. Before he could begin puzzling out the ethics of such an existence, though, his brain registered what the bird had just said. "You're...leaving?" A silent nod accompanied a penetrating amber stare. "...When?"

He didn't ask 'why'; he wasn't sure he wanted an answer to that.

_"I will go...after you leave this place, I suppose. Or after you pass away...whichever comes first. I will...sleep. If the exorcist intends to stay. Sleep until the generations pass...as long as I must. And if the exorcists are still here when I reach my limits...decide if I must make my home elsewhere."_

Natsume slowly stepped forward, around the giant bird. The bird turned its head, watching the dazed child head for the house.

Natsume was lost in thought, trying to wrap his head around Fukuro's way of planning; in human lifetimes instead of days. He was used to people belittling his own life (he was far, far too used to it for his own good, in fact), but to have something treat human life in general as nothing more than a way to measure the time was...disturbing, to say the least. He stopped at the Rakuto's fence, looking up at the empty porch.

_I really can't do anything, can I? ...Fukuro...youkai...exorcists..._

Natsume turned away from the silent house. "Fukuro-san, is Matoba-san... is the exorcist human?" He said it nonchalantly, almost as if he didn't care. He was fairly certain that he already knew the answer. _This is just confirmation...the final nail in the coffin..._

Fukuro eyed him curiously. _"Yes. Of course."_

The bird watched the emotions play across Natsume's shadowed eyes. A spark of happiness...relief...uncertainty...a touch of fear...hope...all swimming in a maelstrom of countless other emotions that Fukuro recognized but couldn't name. It hooted unhappily. _"Are you...a friend of exorcists now, child?"_

"Eh?" Natsume blinked up at the upset-looking bird, his eyes clearing (of exactly what, he didn't know). Surprise colored his tone. "Friend? Matoba-san?" The notion...confused him. The idea of an actual _friend,_ someone who wouldn't think he was weird or just a burden, made him...hopeful? Uncertain?

He immediately rejected such a potentially dangerous and painful idea. "No. I wouldn't go so far as to say that we're friends." _That would be pushing it...they barely knew each other..._

Fukuro eyed him intently, and Natsume fought the urge to take a step back. (That would have been a really big mistake.) Evidently deciding that the boy was telling the truth, Fukuro straightened, and the dangerous gleam in its eyes faded. Natsume almost sighed in relief. (_Almost_).

_"Well, then...That's okay...I suppose." _Fukuro contemplatively ran a beak through its wing feathers. The silence stretched as Natsume cast about for a safer subject to talk about.

"I...I have school tomorrow. Will I see you then?"

"_No...I doubt you'll see me when I follow you...humans have such weak senses, after all._" Fukuro chuckled dryly. Natsume blinked, uncertain how to react to that.

"Natsume-kun. Just _what _are you doing?" The sharp voice made Natsume jump. He whirled around and found himself looking up at a disapproving (and slightly creeped out) Arisa Rakuto. She stood on the porch, the door gaping open behind her, frowning at the boy who seemed to be talking to himself in front of her house. She cast her gaze down the empty street, before fixing her sharp blue eyes on the lone child on the sidewalk. Natsume fidgeted uncomfortably. "Where's Shimuzu?"

"Ah! Uncle Rakuto is...um...he's..." Natsume blanked out. _What could he say? That he'd ditched his relative in favor of running away from something she couldn't see?_

Arisa's scowl deepened at Natsume' response (or lack thereof). "Never mind." She sighed. She spun on her heel and strode into the house, no longer bothering with the strange child she'd been saddled with. The door, left swinging open, was a clear, unwillingly delivered order to get in.

Natsume shot the large owl a silent look, both relieved and depressed (he really shouldn't have been; that was normal treatment for him) at Arisa's obvious lack of concern. Quietly, he said, "...see you tomorrow, Fukuro-san." He darted into the house, the empty hallway greeting him.

Natsume caught Fukuro's murmur of agreement before he slipped the door closed. He leaned against the shut door for a moment. When he heard to bird fly off, he sighed and pushed himself off the door, getting ready to help his aunt with the house chores.

* * *

Fukuro eyed the closed door, its mind's eye showing him the human he knew was behind that flimsy obstruction. There was something bothering it; a name that it had a few memories of.

_"Matoba", he called the exorcist...Matoba..._

Frowning (again with the imagination thing; yes, owls don't frown, but we will pretend they do), Fukuro spread its wings and took off, too preoccupied to notice how uncharacteristically loud its takeoff was. (Meaning, it actually made a little _noise. _And I just added this because Alex pointed out that Natsume could hear it fly off, so there's _probably_ no real significance to this one-time occurrence.)

* * *

As it was, Natsume woke up the next morning rather sick. He tried to hide his headache, coughs, and sniffles, but his relatives noticed when he coughed five times in a row. After realizing that he had a bit of a temperature, they fussed for a bit, with Shimuzu saying that they shouldn't send him to school while he was sick and Arisa arguing that they couldn't leave him at home by himself and that the school nurse would call if it was anything serious, which was unlikely because it was the beginning of _summer_.

Shimuzu lost the argument when Natsume chimed in that he was perfectly fine and that they didn't need to trouble themselves. He was promptly sent to school, with nothing more than an extra handkerchief tucked into his bag. The child walked along, feeling unusually miserable (not that he didn't usually feel miserable; he just didn't usually feel _this _miserable. Misery has many degrees, after all). On the up side, he was running a little late, so there was no one else walking along the same path and bothering him.

Natsume immediately scratched that thought when a large shadow overlapped his own, keeping pace with him as he walked. (The 'large shadow' covered a whole lot more than just his shadow, actually. But _apparently,_ that's irrelevant. *rolls eyes*)

"Good morning, Fukur-" His greeting was cut off by a large sneeze. Fukuro eyed him, eyes shadowed.

_"You are sick."_ Natsume blinked up at it, thrown off by the tone of the statement. It sounded...concerned? Guilty?

"It's just a cold. It'll get better." _Probably._ Natsume shook the doubt off.

_"A simple illness...it is not, child."_ Fukuro shook its head sharply for emphasis._ "No, I recognize it. It is...spiritual exhaustion. In humans...it makes them seem ill. Left alone, the exhaustion will pass. But the source...partially the prey that attacked you yesterday. Partially...continued time in my presence, it would seem."_ It looked at him unhappily. _"It is unintentional, but...yes, it's better that way..."_

"What's better?" Natsume asked, despite his nagging sense of unease.

Fukuro eyed him, a strange guilt and guarded caution mixing as it watched Natsume experience a sudden fit of coughing. "_I will not stay...not come too close, not anymore. Just close enough to hunt...I suppose. It was never my intention to involve you...as anything more than bait._"

"What?" Natsume stared at the large bird, denial written all over his face. The owl looked away. "That's...but you..."

Fukuro spread its wings. "_I apologize...child._"

"No, wait!" Natsume lunged forward, closing his fingers on a handful of downy feathers before the bird could take off. "That's...don't...it's okay! You don't have to...don't...leave..."

Fukuro eyed the child in silence, wings still out stretched. Leaning forward, it nudged Natsume away from it, its beak more than twice the size it had been when Natsume last tried to stop it from leaving him. The boy only clung on more firmly, slightly panicking. Fukuro stopped to stare at him, amber eyes unreadable.

_"Why...when you know it is my presence that harms you...why is it, that you still cling so tightly?"_

"I-I just...don't want...to b-be..." Another fit of coughs shook him, but he didn't let go. "...Alone."

Fukuro _snapped._

Natsume could feel the feathers bristling in his grip. _"And just_ what_,"_ the owl spat,_ "do you know of being alone? You, human child, who have had others looking after you from birth?"_ Natsume flinched at the venom in those words, feathers slipping unnoticed from his fingers. The owl was puffed up to almost twice its size, wings slightly outstretched and on the verge of advancing on the scared little boy._ "You, who spend every day in the presence of other humans, who spend every night in the care of other humans? You, who have never had nor felt what I have, never lost what I've lost, and yet live every day too afraid to reach out for what is right in front of you, for what is denied my kind?" _Natsume took a small step backwards, eyes wide with fear in the face of the owl's towering rage.

Fukuro abruptly calmed down, feathers once again lying flat, wings flat against its side. It slowly leaned in a little towards Natsume, who skittered back another step. In a surprisingly gentle tone of voice, utterly devoid of anger and almost weak compared to its previous rage, the bird murmured, "_And just what...do you presume to know about being alone?_"

Natsume blinked up at the large bird, completely thrown off by the owl's display of emotion. Fukuro eyed him in silence for another moment, before sighing. It straightened. _"I'll keep that others from attacking you...as that was my fault. But...if you need companions so much...go, make your peace with the others of your kind. Or find youkai in another land...that will follow you through the human world." _It turned. Back facing Natsume, it quietly said, "_I...don't...need others."_

And then it left, resolutely ignoring Natsume's cry of '_wait!'._

* * *

(Back to Alex ;L)

Natsume, on his knees, stared up at the empty sky. Fukuro had gone, out of sight and out of reach, it seemed. He sniffled and stood.

"Stupid, stupid, _stupid-_" he mumbled, not sure if he was talking about the owl or himself. Why...no, _when_ had he gotten attached?

He turned, heading for school. He walked four steps forward. He stopped. He looked back.

The sight of the empty road greeted him.

He sighed, and turned around again. He assumed the bird, wherever it was hidden, would follow him at its own pace.

* * *

(And me again~ this is unexpectedly fun :P)

Natsume paid zero attention in school that day. His teachers all pretty much ignored him, for which he assumed he should be grateful. He spent most of class staring out the window, looking for any sign of youkai (or just one in particular). Morning passed, lunchtime rolled around, and the afternoon slipped past. Natsume sighed as the last bell rang, and slipped his bag on. He never did see the owl when it didn't want to be seen; he supposed that it was stupid of him to look for it.

And then an almost-familiar wave of power crashed over him.

He looked around, checking that no one was paying attention to him. (The trio of bullies has moved on or something. I don't know. Just don't expect to see them anytime soon, if at all.) He looked out to the west. It was pretty far this time...

* * *

**A/N: **The cut-off for this chapter doesn't quite sit right with me. I was going to end it later and make this chapter an insanely long one, as an apology for taking so much time to get it out, but Alex insisted that I end it there (or risk having to write the next chapter all on my lonesome) because he says he'd have no idea how to start the next one if I didn't. (So the fact that this chapter wasn't insanely long was _his _fault. I meant to make it longer, and it's the thought that counts...right?) But that also means that he's already planning the next chapter, so that's something. He doesn't procrastinate as much as me ^_^"

But the fact that he doesn't procrastinate as much means that he might choose to study for our upcoming test instead of writing, so it goes both ways...Ahem!

I have mentioned repeatedly that I am hopeless when it comes to Japanese culture, so I know very little about how people like Shimuzu and Mayori (she probably won't turn up again) would normally interact. My lack of knowledge in regards to Japanese social skills (or social skills in general) notwithstanding, I wanted to write a little more about the people Natsume's staying with. So there you go.

Yeah, Fukuro's old. I mentioned this before, but I didn't really express it much. So I figured I'd add a little bit on that in this chapter, as well as expand on the owl in general. All of the youkai-that-eat-other-youkai tend to be portrayed as evil, so I tried to figure out a possible compromise to keep Fukuro from appearing that way (and part of that compromise involves the bird eating purely out of necessity and not greed, and that the bird fully understands the fact that it's killing something that thinks and feels). I know that a few chapters back I said that I was going to drop Fukuro out in 4~6 chapters, but I think I may or may not extend that deadline a bit. It should be okay -as long as no one objects. (If anyone has a problem with this, I will speed things up some more...) And you can all go ahead and hate him for how he's acting, I don't mind; but be warned that you will probably feel bad for hating later on... since my 'adding details to everything' means Fukuro now has a past :P

For some reason, this chapter was also kinda hard to write; I feel like I'm losing my grip on my expressiveness (Alex calls it my 'need to explain everything' T_T). Probably because I am still rehabilitating from previously mentioned excursion into another fandom. Sigh...

This is a bit random and has no relation to anything except my personal life, so you can all ignore this paragraph if you want. Recently (as in, yesterday night), a sick little city pigeon was found on the street in front of my house. It is very much alive, but it won't do anything except sleep, poop, and drink sugar-n-salt water. It doesn't stand, eat, make noise, or move anything except its head (though I _think _it sometimes twitches its wings). I'm pretty sure it's not in physical pain (as in, nothing seems broken), so I can't figure out what's wrong with it. No one mentioned knowing anything about owl wings, so I don't really expect this shot-in-the-dark to help much, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask. Anyone know anything about pigeons or sick birds in general?

Anyhow, I will NOT be writing the next chapter. Alex will do that~ and you probably won't see me for a while. Bye!


	10. The Path Less Traveled

**A/N: **I'm sure Alyss has already done all the introductions, but I'll recap. I'm Alex. I manage our beta profile, and usually just edit/criticize when it comes to actual writing. Alyss is usually the writer's voice and, more often than not, she ignores my criticism. I typically deal with real life. And this is technically my first chapter. That's all you need to know about me.

Apparently, Alyss has found a loophole in my policy of only allowing her to work on one piece at a time. So I have been consigned to working everything out and getting this where she expects it to go, while she goes off to work on some random one-shot that she will probably never post. Great.

People have been telling me (or have been telling Alyss, who has been rather gleefully _"informing"_ me) that, apparently, I write strangely. I do_ not_. T_T

...Not really, at least. Anyways, thanks to those comments, Alyss has seen fit to go over my writing and stick in unnecessary explanations wherever she feels that I have not been as _expressive _as she. Tsk.

On the up side, it also means that _she's_ the one doing the proofreading. So I guess it's not all bad.

That's all I really want to say. I don't know where Alyss pulls out all that random crap to babble about, but evidently I don't have access to that part of the brain.

[But there's lots more you could say! Like how you managed to get this done in time for Thanksgiving! Or that this piece has now broken the double-digits chapter-wise! That's cause for celebration~]

Yes, I _could_ mention that. But I don't want to. And you really shouldn't, because you have _no right_ to say _anything_ in this chapter after dumping it on me.

Dedicated to Mutsumi Ayano, who numbers among the first few reviewers this story has had and has not been forgotten. No one has, I swear. Alyss is keeping a little checklist somewhere.

Speaking of reviews, I won't beg for them any more than Alyss will. This way, we don't feel obligated to reply to all of them.

**_I don't own Natsume Yuujin-cho, and I make no profit from this. All characters in this chapter belong to the author._**

* * *

He slowed to a stop, his breathing a little ragged from climbing the uneven trail. He peered out into the thin underbrush between quick breaths, vainly trying to spot something when he wasn't even all that sure what he was supposed to be looking for. He wasn't looking for the owl. No, Fukuro would have left long before he arrived. Natsume was looking for...someone else.

That small acknowledgement on his part, the fact that he finally admitted to himself that he actually _was _looking for..._someone,_ made him pause. He froze, and caught himself scanning the motionless tree trunks. He mentally smacked himself.

_What the hell am I doing? _

He probably should have asked himself that _before _he trekked all the way out here. He frowned a little, struggling to come up with an explanation he could accept.

Maybe it was just curiosity on his part; a sense of wanting to know more about Matoba and the world that he -that _they_- always lived with one foot in. The world that he'd always tried to reject.

Or, possibly, it was the tiny, unacknowledged hope that had been unknowingly planted in the depths of his consciousness by the distant words of an oversized owl.

_Are you...a friend of exorcists now, child?_

_...if you need companions so much...go, make your peace with the others of your kind..._

Scratch that. It _had _to be the curiosity; nothing more. Nothing else at all...

He sighed and shook his head. Whatever the reason, Natsume now found himself teetering on the edge of a footpath in the middle of the woods. His sixth sense was telling him that he'd find something -a dead spell, he assumed- if he just stepped off the path he'd followed to this point, and walked through the forest proper.

He hesitated.

Would he regret going forward? It would be hard, he was sure. The forest was difficult and rocky, full of things likely to trip him up. In more ways than one.

He hesitated.

Would he regret turning back? He could go back, he knew...but back to what? A silent house with a locked door? A life empty of anything and everything, save for pain and fear and the emptiness itself?

He hesitated.

He didn't _have_ to leave the path. He could turn back now, and no one would ever know he'd been here, save for himself. But that was the important part. _He _would always know, and would always wonder what could have been, if he turned away now.

He hesitated a just a moment more, though his mind was already made up. He was no longer seeing the forest path for what it was; a simple man-made trail through the woods. Or maybe, he was seeing it in its full entirety for the first time. This was a path that someone else made; it was the easier, emptier path, with no one waiting at the end of it. He picked up his left foot. Set it down among the grass of the woods. Picked up his right. Fully left the path he'd walked on to this point.

Nothing happened.

He almost laughed aloud at himself. For just a moment, he briefly entertained the thought of stepping back on the path, just to prove that he could. He sighed, turning away from the trail and eyeing the forest he'd have to carve his own way through. He slowly picked his way forward, but only after giving the empty, waiting path a backwards glance.

~^[A]^~;[Y]~(~:[P]:~)~T[A]T~[X]:~

He might have spent mere moments slipping through the timeless tranquility of forest, relying less on sight and sound than on a sense he'd never known he possessed until recently. Then again, he might just as easily have walked for several long minutes or even a full hour, engrossed in his subtler senses, before he finally caught a flicker of movement through the trees. He slowed his already lagging pace even further, cautiously picking each step before moving forward.

He froze when he got his first clear glimpse of the older boy through the trees. Matoba was holding something -a long branch, it looked like- and dragging it along the ground, gouging something out in the earth of the sunlit clearing. Natsume watched, unmoving, as the older boy, with an air of practiced ease, firmly etched out in the rocky soil what appeared to be circles and symbols, though the shapes themselves were hidden from Natsume's view by the thick bushes that clumped along the ground between the tree trunks. Curiosity (as well as something else, something deliberately ignored and consigned to the far depths of his heart) made him a little more reckless and impulsive than he normally was around other people. And his first impulse, once he abandoned caution, was to see what Matoba was drawing. He walked forward, focusing on the older boy and nervously watching for the moment when Matoba finally noticed him.

He coughed twice, pausing in his steps as a hand automatically shot up to cover his mouth. Stupid cold.

Matoba's head snapped up at the unexpected sound, and the teen quickly scanned the trees with narrowed eyes. Natsume froze when Matoba fixed a surprised gaze on him. He flushed guiltily; he felt like a child who'd been caught sneaking out after dark. After struggling to contain his initial flight response, Natsume slowly walked to the edge of the trees. He could feel Matoba's gaze boring into him and he shifted uncomfortably, unable to bring himself to meet the older boy's questioning gaze.

He felt he should say something, should explain his presence, should _leave, _should ask one of the many questions he could feel building up in the back of his throat. It was strange. Now that Natsume knew for certain that Matoba was human, -_just like me_, he thought- he found that he was at a complete loss as to how he should act. So he settled on a safe, tentative, small, and incredibly awkward: "Hi."

* * *

Seiji raised an eyebrow as Natsume came closer. He'd half-expected the boy to run off as soon as he'd been spotted; he wondered why the child was approaching him now.

Natsume stopped at the edge of the clearing, hugging the tree line. He fidgeted under Matoba's intense scrutiny.

"Hi."

Matoba blinked, slowly. The motion went unseen, as Natsume still wouldn't look him in the face. Questions flitted through his mind. _Why don't you run away? Why do you come forward, but refuse to come closer? Is there something you want from me? How did you find this place? Do you still doubt my humanity?_

_Why won't you look at me?_

He knew better than to ask anything, though. He turned his gaze away from the nervous child, trying keep the skittish boy from growing more uncomfortable. He didn't want to drive Natsume off, not when the child had been the one to step forward, for a change.

"Hello."

* * *

**A/N: **Yeah, so some parts were corny. It's my first chapter. Shoot me.

I'd normally just do a crappy job with this on purpose, as this was more or less forced on me and I could probably get Alyss to do her own writing if enough people complain (or don't compliment, which is politically the same thing). Unfortunately, she has made it explicitly clear that if I waste readers' time with my chapters, I will no longer have any right to criticize her work. And _normally_ I wouldn't care, because 'hypocrisy is a common trait of humanity' and all that clichéd crap, except for the fact that I already have issues trying to get her to listen to me when she _doesn't _have a valid counter-argument (plus the fact that she'd never let me live it down if I did a worse job than she). So I tried. A little.

[This is such a short chapter...]

And? You took a whole day -a _whole _day, who _does _that?- to look over my first draft. [Cuz I was busy.] Then you scrap my decent, _long _chapter and tell me to start over, even though it followed your storyline to the letter. [Because you squished Natsume's whole week into a bunch of clipped 'meeting' scenes...] Then you took _another _day to come up with a simple, rather lame _chapter name._ [ ... (*has no excuse for this*)] And you wanted it up by _Thanksgiving._ You honestly expected it to be _long? _[But...still...] Come to think of it, weren't your first chapters short too? Actually, why are you even here?

Anyways, next one will be up whenever I get around to it. It shouldn't take too long. It'll probably also be pretty short, though, as I was forced to rewrite this at a much, much slower pace than was originally planned. Which means I won't be able to hand this back to Alyss for a few chapters. Sigh...

That doesn't mean that I won't go quickly, though. If you can't keep up, just reread it and keep it to yourself; otherwise Alyss will make me slow down. _Again._

[Ignore him. Tell us if this is going too fast~ Alex can be very reader-unfriendly.] Oi. My chapter. You stay out. [- 3-]

Oh, and Alyss says we should sign our chapters or something so readers can tell which one of us wrote what. I think that that's unnecessary and people could figure it out if they wanted to. But I'm going to set the prerequisite here, or else Alyss will come up with some squiggly monstrosity of a signature. [I wouldn't do that...] Ahem. _Just_ like she did with the time-skip symbol. T_T (I had no say in that. I think it's supposed to be some mix of emotes and our initials...or something. Don't know, don't care.)

-Alex


	11. Flashback (ab-)use

**A/N: **God, how I hate writing.

This is a fairly long, loaded chapter. I want no nonsensical bellyaching about how long it took to write up.

I've also given up all pretense of imitating Alyss' writing style, as it seems I am simply not compatible with it. Consequentially, I've decided to model my style after a different author's. (To anyone who thinks they can possibly spot her out of all the D. Gray-Man fanfic authors on this site: Good luck.)

To those of you who celebrate Lunar New Year: Alyss wants me to congradulate you. To those of you who don't: Sucks to be you.

Dedicated to Renkin-chan. A certain over-talkative moron insists I mention that she thinks your profile picture is awesome.

**_I don't own Natsume Yuujin-cho, and make no profit from this. All characters in this chapter belong to the author._**

* * *

[Don't forget, Alex we've also got-]

(...and I worked so hard to keep her out, too...)

[-a new literary device this chapter~! Introducing... *cues drum roll*]

...F#ck this. *chucks drumstick at Alyss*

Here:

(***)

_Flashback._

(***)

Done.

[Hey!]

* * *

Natsume crept up to the front door. The lights were on; the curtained windows lit from behind like cat eyes in the night. He tries the doorknob. It doesn't turn. He clutches it tightly, feeling the cool, unyielding metal against his palm in the almost-summer dusk air. Resting his forehead on the door, he takes a moment to steel himself. With a small, inaudible but unmistakable sigh, he releases the knob and rings the doorbell. And then he waits.

(***)

_"Eh!? No, I-I-I d-don't-I mean…I-I-th-that...I-I-I-" Natsume stutters, eyes wide. He is shaken, shaken beyond anything he's capable of dealing with; and he, try as he might to hide it, is unable to stop himself from backing away._

_"...I-I have t-to go back."_

_Matoba is amused, and spares no pains to hide his amusement. Smirking slightly, he tips his head back to study the sun, giving Natsume a brief respite from his heavy gaze._

_"It's getting late. Your guardians will be home soon, won't they?" Red eyes flickered to catch the small, involuntary nod thrown in their direction, before returning to contemplate the early evening sky. "It will be dark soon. Do you know your way back?"_

_"Yes. I'll be fine."_

_The ingrained reassurance and refusal slip out before Natsume even has a chance to consider the implied offer, which may have been for the best. He had little wish to stay any longer; he was not nearly as comfortable in Matoba's presence as he'd been mere minutes prior._

_Even so, he hesitated, half-turned to leave. After all, he had not come here to run away._

_His back was exposed and almost pathetically fragile in the eyes of the young exorcist watching. Matoba can't see the indecision scrawled across the child's face, but he can read it in the boy's stance, just as Natsume can hear the wry smile decorating Seiji's face in his soft voice. _

_"If you're certain, then. Let's talk again next time, hmm...?"_

(***)

She frowns when she sees him. For a moment, they stare at each other through the window; she on the inside, the warm glow filling the window around her in sharp contrast to her shadowed expression, where she seemed to simply _belong_; and he on the outside, the breeze trailing through his hair and too-large hand-me-downs, the sun going to ground in the horizon to his side, framing his face in a dance of stark light and sable shadow and desolate, helpless loneliness...

She sighs, suspicion and irritation flashing across her features, and the moment passes. Her face disappears from the window as the shutters close, effectively cutting off the light that'd spilled from the window.

He hears footsteps stalking down the inner hallway, aggravation ringing with every step. When the door finally swings open with an ominous creak (or maybe that was just the mood and his imagination), he is confronted with a stony expression and a slim, demanding figure that refused him entry. They appraise each other for a moment; one with an air of the accused silently awaiting his sentence, and the other glowering with all the self-righteous fury and resignation of a babysitter whose young charge had mischievously wrecked a personal belonging.

Finding no obvious explanation for his abrupt (but not entirely unexpected) lateness, Arisa kicked up an eyebrow.

"Well?"

([Lecture time~! :P])

(***)

_"Well?"_

_Natsume twitched, his eyes inadvertently glancing up at Matoba's face. Said person lazily opened one eye, the other still shut, as he silently met Natsume's inquisitive glance with one of his own. It was the first eye contact they'd had since Seiji settled himself in his recently-completed spell circle; contact that Natsume was quick to break off, reverting to his previous activity of lightly etching the strange symbols in the air above them with his right hand. His left hand was occupied in keeping the boy from bowling over where he crouched, less than an arm's length from the outer rim of the spell._

_"Well?" Seiji prompted once again, quirking an eyebrow. Natsume didn't look up. "Why the sudden change of heart?"_

_Natsume spoke, for the first time since his awkward initial greeting. "I...don't know."_

_There is enough lie there for Seiji to notice and Natsume to wince, but the former merely 'hmm...'s as the latter mentally cringes._

(***)

He stands on the porch, head bowed and shoulders hunched, as apologizes (but not reasons) drop from his lips every time she takes a breath. It's an unacknowledged form of art; one that was almost second nature to Natsume.

"...any idea what kind of trouble we'd be in if you've been doing things you shouldn't be-"

"I'm sorry."

He was listening attentively to her tirade, though his exhaustion-stupefied brain dismissed the words themselves as insignificant. He could guess well enough what they meant.

"...heard that you were something of a trouble child, but to think that you can't even be back here at a reasonable time-"

"I'm sorry."

No, what mattered was assessing her tone, noting how deep her frustration ran, figuring out how fed up she was; basically calculating how likely he'd still be here a week from now. Natsume had an uncommonly extensive amount of experience in the area.

"...and exactly what you were doing, -what you were _thinking, _-running around at this hour, I should like to know-"

"I'm sorry."

(***)

_"I…I'm sorry."_

_He looks up at that, amusement dancing across his features. Natsume spares a moment to wonder if Matoba-san is always so prone to wry smiles._

_"That's what you said before, isn't it?"_

_Though it was more a statement than a question, Natsume hears the curiosity beneath the casual inflection. He nods._

_"Care to explain what you're apologizing for?"_

_He shakes his head, still unable to meet the older boy's eyes._

_Matoba just lets out the faintest of sighs. "I see..."_

(***)

"Arisa..."

Natsume glances up carefully, wary of regaining Arisa's attention when she'd finally cut off her "You-are-a-bad-child-and-should-not-cause-us-trouble" spiel. Shimuzu was standing a little behind his wife, his hand still lightly resting on her shoulder where he'd placed it to make his presence known.

"Why don't you both come inside?" His tone was half commanding, half pleading. "You'll disturb the neighbors."

She scowls at the hidden warning in his tone, but after a moment relents with an exasperated sigh. She pivots on one heel and leaves, irritation resounding in her every almost-stomping footstep as she makes her way back down the hall. Shimuzu, watching her go, heaves a small sigh himself. He turns to Natsume, looking down at him with a polite, artificial smile that reeked of exhaustion. His gaze is mixed, the accusation diluted by a small plead for understanding and forgiveness, as he reluctantly moves aside and beckons Natsume in.

(***)

_Seiji beckoned him closer, his smile far more inviting and encouraging than what Natsume usually received. He'd scooted over until he was backed up to the inner rim of the symbol-ornamented circle he'd drawn, leaving enough room for Natsume to join him where he sat._

_Natsume hesitated, frozen where he stood. Then, taking a deep breath, he stepped into the circle._

_He gasps at the sudden change. The very air feels thinner, as if he'd just jumped a few hundred meters up the mountain in that single step, each breath less efficient and lifelessly cold. At the same time, it feels heavier and thicker, dragging at his limbs and almost pressing down on him as he stumbles, more from surprise than anything else. Strong arms grip him as he struggles to stay upright, and they bear down on his shoulders until he sits. Matoba relinquishes his grip at Natsume's automatic recoil, but places one hand on the boy's head to keep him seated._

_"Just sit," he commands softly, his voice soothing. Natsume blinks light-headedly at him, dazed. "You've never actively channeled your power before, right? Give yourself some time to adjust. The discomfort will fade."_

_Natsume nods slowly and Matoba lets his hand slip off the child's head. They sit together, enveloped in silence._

(***)

They did let him eat dinner; he'd half expected them not to. Of course, they didn't exactly make it comfortable for him as he drooped over his plate, what with Arisa's black glares and Shimuzu's pathetic attempts to gloss it over with small talk.

"Just...just let us know you're going to be back late next time, okay?" His smile was wan and lacked sincerity. Natsume nodded at him tiredly, not quite willing to point out that he had no way to contact either of them.

Arisa snapped her gaze from Natsume to her husband."This will not happen again," she insists.

"Arisa, we can't expect a child Natsume-kun's age to wait for us to come home _every_ time without getting bored, can we?"

Her expression announced that she most certainly could (and would). She turned to Natsume. "There'd better not be a next time, understand?"

"_Hai._" Natsume mumbles, meekly finishing the last of his rice.

(***)

_"Let's talk again next time, hmm...?"_

(***)

Though he wants nothing more than to crawl into his futon and pass out, he does the dishes. After all, it's the least he can do.

Arisa silently pouts in the living room, shoveling her husband's paperwork piles into a folder while Shimuzu brushes his teeth in the bathroom. Natsume set the last cup on the drying board and hesitantly shoots Arisa a questioning look. Not even sparing him a glance, she merely jerks her head at the stairs, giving him permission to go to bed.

He hurried lightly up the stairs, slowing to a stop as he reaches the top. He looks at the empty hallway, sighs once, and plods to the guest room to get his toothbrush.

(***)

_"Thank you."_

_Natsume blinks dumbly at Matoba as said teen stretched, straightening out the kinks he'd acquired after sitting so long. Matoba, getting no response, shoots Natsume a curious look, taking in the boy's blank stare. A little belatedly, Natsume mumbles, "You're welcome."_

_Matoba tilts his head to one side. "Why do you sound so confused?"_

_"I don't," Natsume instantly replies, a little too quickly. He quails under the older boy's stern searching gaze. "It's…nothing, really." As the suspicious gaze exponentially intensifies, Natsume fidgets and holds out for a moment more, before he reluctantly gives in. "It's just that…why...what were you thanking me for?"_

_Then came Matoba's turn to look puzzled. "That should be fairly obvious, shouldn't it?" He motions at the circle they'd just stepped out of, now quietly thrumming with a power that Natsume could just barely sense, carefully hidden within the confines of the spell._

_Natsume frowns at that answer. "But...I didn't do much. I mean, I only…did…what I..." He trails off, not entirely sure what to say._

_Matoba pauses, considering that response, before his crimson eyes suddenly widen with understanding. Shaking his head slightly, he lets out a short huff; half-sigh, half-laugh. _

_"And I only thanked you, Natsume-kun."_

_Natsume blinks once more. Quietly and absentmindedly, he mutters, "You're weird..."_

_Then, realizing he'd said that out loud, he flushes bright red. Seiji merely eyes him, obviously amused and not the least bit offended. _

_"After all this time, is that your final verdict?" He chuckles._

(***)

Natsume eyes the face in the mirror. It's features are the same, and the bathroom behind it is just as stark as ever. Even so, he takes a moment just staring at it, almost detachedly noting all the ways it has changed in the last few days. Its eyes are blank, listless with exhaustion; it's far paler than its previous already-sickly pallor; and it's unkempt shock of silver hair only added to its general air of dilapidation.

Natsume sighed and shut his eyes, leaning forward to rest his hot forehead against the cool glass. He coughed twice, miserably, before he pushed himself off the sink and forced his eyes open again.

(***)

_"Are you okay?"_

_Natsume glanced up, one hand held to his mouth in the event that the coughing fit returned, as he automatically murmured, "I'm fine." He straightened where he sat and let his hand drop, trying to seem at ease when he'd been doubled over coughing not moments before._

_Seiji looks understandably skeptical, particularly when Natsume started sneezing. Surprisingly, he didn't push for answers; he merely slipped off his light outer robe and draped it over Natsume's shoulders, ignoring the boy's attempts to return the still-warm garment._

(***)

Natsume paused in the middle of laying out his futon, sinking to his knees and just breathing for a moment. The simple task of unfolding a futon was almost frighteningly taxing in his sorry state, and he allowed himself a brief moment of rest to gather up enough strength to finish.

With a small heave, he brought himself to his feet again, anxious to be asleep. Preferably before Shimuzu poked his head in to tell Natsume to go to bed.

(***)

_Say…_

(***)

Though the night was far from cold and he felt warm with fever, Natsume burrowed himself further into his thin blankets. His mind, stupid with lack of sleep and stress from recent events, was unable to ward off the thought he'd worked so hard to avoid. The recollection danced across his mindscape, demanding attention.

(***)

_Say…_

(***)

Even though he knew it was futile, he still did his best to avoid the memory, working with all the resolve his reserve-exhausted mind could muster. Some irrational part of his fading consciousness hoped to somehow come to terms with it all, without actually thinking about any of it.

(***)

_Say…_

(***)

Needless to say, he failed miserably on both accounts, and the nagging words filtered through his screen of unconsciousness. His dreams that night were filled with strange symbols and dancing red eyes.

(***)

_"You're quite the natural at this."_

_"Say…do you want to become an exorcist?"_

_"Let's talk again next time, hmm…?"_

(***)

Even in his sleep, he managed to heave a sigh.

* * *

**A/N: **Yes, that looks like a cliffhanger. It's not. That said, if you wish to treat it as one, I certainly won't stop you.

[It _is _a cliffhanger.]

It is not, because Seiji's next course of action is blatantly obvious to anyone who has half a brain. Natsume's answer is pretty much irrelevant.

[What do you mean, "irrelevant"!? It's an integral part of Natsume's mindset from this poin-]

It's irrelevant because Seiji intends to teach him whether or not he wants to learn it. He's a smart, ridiculously persistent guy. Do you honestly expect him to be put off by a half-hearted "no"? [...] Thought so.

I might have to find a different style for next time. This writing style is a bit too flowery for my tastes, though I admit that it's pretty good at shoving all the unnecessaries off to the little ignored corner where they belong.

[Wait, you didn't do any of that 'flowery' stuff, so why are you complaining? I did all that (it was fun~ :P)]

Correction: You did _only _that. And I can complain about that stuff because it's my job to criticise writing (your writing especially). And speaking of criticism, you were missing a lot of details regarding the Rakutos and their personalities. You're not very thorough with this, are you?

[Well, ex-_cu-_se me, Mr. I-can't-do-jack-without-a-friggin'-math-formula o 3o By the way, your tenses are a total mess.]

I'm aware. Inner editor, remember? But not inner writer, so you will just have to deal with the consequences of not doing your job...

Which reminds me: _You_ have absolutely no right to judge, as you are_ not supposed to be here._

[Writer's voice privileges~!]

I'm pretty sure they don't apply when you're not doing most of the writing.

[Apparently, they do :3]

...Write the next chapter.

[Hell no. Reading 'n writing other stuff here~]

Tsk.

-Alex


End file.
